Cal. Education Code § 45279

A regular employee who is determined by the governing board to be incapable of performing the duties of his class because of illness or injury may, at the discretion of the governing board, be assigned duties which he is capable of performing. The position to which he is assigned shall be subject to classification by the personnel commission, but the employee shall receive no increase in a wage or salary because of his assignment to the position unless he is appointed from an eligibility list resulting from a competitive examination. In the event that the position is classified and allocated to a higher wage or salary than that previously attained by the employee, he may be assigned to the position without competitive examination, but shall continue to receive the wage or salary of his former classification. If the position is classified and allocated to a lower wage or salary than that attained by the employee, he shall be paid the wage or salary appropriate to the position.