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Curious about being a paid firefighthter and still being able to volunteer
I belong to a department that just hired six of us on a year ago. It was a fully volunteer till a year ago when we became combi. Now we are going to a 24hr schedule finally and they are saying we cant put in volunteer any more. if any of you have knowledge of where to look to see if it legal for me to volunteer at another district it would be greatly appreciated. i can be emailed as well clarkd103@gmail.com thanks
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by FETC on
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It is against the FLSA (fair labor stadards act) laws to volunteer at your place of paid employment. So yes they are correct to tell you that you can't volunteer at your organization. I know some places as you describe, do not allow the paid guys to come back for anything because they do not have an overtime budget. The paid guys are not allowed to come in for even a 5 alarm fire.
Now as far as volunteering at another department, I have never heard of a law per say, that says you can't volunteer elsewhere while being a paid firefighter. I do know that unions have bylaws stating it is not allowed. But I would check within your state for local laws on the matter.
Best of luck
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Permalink Reply by Randy Porter on
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I Don't know of any LAW, but i see this as being kind of a need for many under-maned districts. Plus many southern departments have a huge gap between paid and volly. If more southern paid departments volunteered, imagine what could be learned.
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Permalink Reply by Derek R. on
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I don't know about other areas, but here a person has to be a resident of the community or area to be a volunteer.
And thank you FETC, you answered a question I have never asked, which is if a paid FF is allowed to participate in a multi alarm fire when he/she is off duty.
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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on
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which is if a paid FF is allowed to participate in a multi alarm fire when he/she is off duty.
Although if ordered in they have to respond, they will get OT or comp time for it, but they just can't show up like a volunteer.
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As mentioned, there really isn't a law out there stating you can't do so, there may dept policy or something discouraging, but would have to be something looked into. Also as stated there could be jurisdictional issues where you have to live so close to another dept etc. There are departments here where career FF's are allowed to volunteer and there are some depts where you can't, it is up to the dept.
As for unions, if you are part of one they may or may not have bylaws etc. The stance of most unions is the part of being paid for one place and then go to another place and work for free, especially if the dept could and should be hiring personnel.
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Permalink Reply by Mike Ward on
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I do not know what the worker compensation laws are in Wyoming.
Wyoming is a "right-to-work" state http://www.nrtw.org/rtws.htm
That means fewer restriction on your activities in other districts than you would encounter in other states.
Some east coast jurisdictions restrict the off-duty activities of paid emergency service workers as a way of reducing your exposure to a disability, infection, burns or chronic orthopaedic injury.
It sounds cruel, but if you suffer a back injury or Hepatitis infection, one defense your employer may take is that you incurred the injury during your hometown volunteering and not while on-the-clock.
I suggest you start a personal logbook where you track all of your emergency service activities. Paid, volunteer and training.
A colleague died of a type of brain tumor that occurs more frequently in firefighters than in the general public. He was a life member in a Pennsylvania VFD and a career Virginia firefighter. May have also become a hometown Virginia volunteer. He kept a personal journal that was crucial in establishing that the environment that contributed to his tumor occurred while he was on-the-clock.
Without that, no worker comp coverage for his medical care and no LODD benefits for his family.
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Permalink Reply by Clark on
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thanks guys ill let ya know what i find out the wost part is we run off mills for our budget and our board didnt budget for overtime so have to go toanother dist if i can thanks again
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Permalink Reply by Dusty Turner on
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I can honestly say call a guy by the name of Scott Mullen he is with the OVFA Oregon Volunteers firefighters Association he is a paid and Volunteer with 2 different departments maybe he can give you some insight. The last I knew he was with Stayton Fire Department in Stayton Oregon. I dont know the number but I know they have a web page. Good luck
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Permalink Reply by Paul Dudan on
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Similar to what Mike had mentioned; a volunteer on my dept was hired as a paid FF for the City of Easton, PA but then forced to change his status from Active FF to only Social Member in our Volunteer Dept. Check with the Bylaws and regulations at work and see if any restrictions are in place.
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Permalink Reply by Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich on
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It is going to get increasingly more difficult to be on more than one department at a time, due to the presumptive illness and injury issues.
Mike Ward is correct. The only way that you are going to prevail if you have a problem is to create a "baseline" for your activities.
Example: for the sake of argument, let's say that you develop cancer. You believe that you got it from your work as a firefighter. You also happen to belong to two departments and really? It doesn't matter if one is paid or one is volunteer or POC/volunteer or both are volunteer. Which department were you working for when you were exposed to the cancer causing agents? The insurance carrier for both departments are going to fight the other.
Same deal with injuries. If you hurt yourself at your volunteer gig and you cannot work at your full time gig and they have to cover your rotation with OT and such until you return, they aren't going to be very happy with you.
I believe that a person should be able to do what he wants on his own time. Unfortunately, the people we work for and the insurance companies who provide insurance for them don't think that way.
Remember that decisions by your employer or their insurance company are NOT made on moral grounds. They are made for business reasons.
It's not your dream anymore. It's their's.
Welcome to reality.
TCSS.
Art
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It's not your dream anymore. It's their's.
Wow, never thought of it like that. So true. Nice one Art.
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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
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FETC is right. The Fair Labor Standards Act prohibits anyone from volunteering at the same fire department where you work full-time. That is done to protect the employer from forcing career employees to "work for free" under any circumstances.
A volunteer may legally work part-time at his/her volly department; i.e. if you volunteer, you can pick up a few fill-in shifts to cover the full-timers' vacation and sick days.
FLSA does not address working full-time career at one department and volunteering at another.
None of this addresses the issues of cancer and heart/lung disease presumption or the career department's right to restrict an employee from a side job that might blur the line on a worker's comp issue.
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