January 18, 2008 11:09 AM

Cop-dominated board says Denver chief deserves to get sick time back

Denver police chief Gerry Whitman got back the vacation and sick time he used while being treated for heart problems last year after a board dominated by current Denver officers agreed his condition was the result of job stress.

Kevin Vaughan reports:

The decision has the potential to allow Whitman to be paid for that time in addition to any unused sick days and vacation, and it did not sit well with one longtime officer.

“This is just a huge stretch to say that you have a heart attack and now you can blame it on the job,” said Lt. Jim Ponzi, a 34-year veteran. “It’s possible. It’s possible that job-related stress caused it.

“But it’s also possible it causes cancer, it causes migraine headaches. The standard there should be, can it be provably linked to a job action?”

Whitman would not discuss the matter, Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson said Thursday.

The Police Pension and Relief Board includes three officers under Whitman’s command, a retired officer, and Denver Manager of Safety Al LaCabe, who oversees the city’s police, fire and sheriff’s departments.

Whitman, 52, was diagnosed with blockages in coronary arteries in 2007 and underwent a procedure in which they were opened with stents.

Beginning last April 6, Whitman took a total of 16 hours of vacation time and 98.75 hours of sick leave for his treatment. It could not be determined why he used vacation time during his recuperation.

Denver police officers are allowed to petition the pension board to have sick leave returned for on-the-job injuries, and Whitman argued that his heart issues were the result of job stress.

The Rocky's editorial says Whitman exercised poor leadership and sent a troubling message to Denver taxpayers that could set an expensive precedent.

The chief has said, in effect, there's no need to exhaust sick leave when you're ill if you can argue that your problem is job-related and brought on by stress - and find a doctor to agree. Hang onto the time, and pocket the money when you move on.

CBS 4 News reporter Brian Maass combed through department records and learned that Whitman had taken nearly 100 hours of sick leave and 16 hours of vacation around the time that he had two stents put in an artery. That's what sick leave is for, of course. The chief says he now feels fine and wants to stay with the department for at least eight more years.

But instead of leaving matters at that, Whitman asked the Police Pension and Relief Board if he could get those sick hours back, as personnel rules allow if an accident or illness is work related.

To be sure, medical professionals interviewed by board investigators concluded that job-related stress played a part in the chief's heart problems. But the fact is no one can be sure. "We know that people with coronary disease are affected by stress," Dr. Larry Hergott, the director of cardiology at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, told the Rocky. "We haven't proven that stress causes heart attacks. We have shown that people who have heart trouble already do worse with stress."

Posted by Mark Wolf at 11:09 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack