(a) An employee may not be disciplined for absence from work if:

1. (1) the employee is a member of a volunteer fire department under IC 36-8-12 ;
2. (2) the employee has notified the employee's immediate supervisor in writing that the employee is a member of a volunteer fire department;
3. (3) the employee presents a written statement to the employee's immediate supervisor from the chief or other officer in charge of the volunteer fire department that the employee was engaged in emergency firefighting activity at the time of the employee's absence from work; and
4. (4) the employee secures authorization from the employee's supervisor to leave the employee's duty station if the employee has already reported for work.

(b) An employee who:

1. (1) is a member of a volunteer fire department under IC 36-8-12 ; and

2. (2) is injured while the employee is engaged in emergency firefighting or other emergency response;

   may not be disciplined as a result of the injury or an absence from work because of the injury if the employee complies with subsections (a) and (c). However, for each instance of emergency firefighting activity or other emergency response that results in an injury to an employee, this subsection applies only to the period of the employee's absence from work that does not exceed six (6) months from the date of the injury.

(c) The immediate supervisor of an employee described in subsection (b) may require the employee to provide evidence from a physician or other medical authority showing:

1. (1) treatment for the injury at the time of the absence; and
2. (2) a connection between the injury and the employee's emergency firefighting or other emergency response activities.

(d) To the extent required by federal or state law, information obtained under subsection (c) by an immediate supervisor must be:

1. (1) retained in a separate medical file created for the employee; and
2. (2) treated as a confidential medical record.

(e) The state personnel department shall administer an absence from employment under subsection (b) in a manner consistent with the federal Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2601 et seq.), as amended and in effect on January 1, 2009.

As added by Acts 1982, P.L.26, SEC.1. Amended by P.L.1-1999, SEC.4; P.L.63-2009, SEC.1.