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PAID FF'S……DO YOU HAVE HOME CONFINEMENT?
I am in a paid department in NY state. When a member is off sick OR injured, that member must be home when his shift is working. Those caught not home, are brought up on departmental charges.
Does anyone else have this rule in effect? My department is roughly 800 strong(that'll narrow it down for you).
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by 55 TRUCK on
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We do not have that here in Indianapolis.
If you are unable to do light duty due to narcotics, muscle relaxers or other Rx meds or if you were burned.
Diving around going out is frowned on since you are suppose to be to doped up to drive to work.
You can have your wife,GF, friend etc. drive you to the mall, store,etc.
Do not show up on face book drinking at a Union St. Pats' party, with your arm bandaged up from a LOD.
Not snart...Will it bring a lot of heat? No, Just not smart.
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Jerry you mentioned to me that the dept. was going to hire people to come out and check on those who called in sick. The union needs to ask how they can afford to hire these people but are unable to come up with the money to hire more ff, fix & replace equepment, etc
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Permalink Reply by Don Catenacci on
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We were supposed to be home if we called in sick or were off injured. If you were going to leave the house you were supposed to call in and say where you were going and when you expected to return.
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Permalink Reply by Jerry N on
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The admin put in for a new Rescue Rig, and a new firehouse to be built too. They were shot down.Yet they see it fit to hire a private firm to check on our members who are off sick or injured(IN THE LINE OF DUTY no less!).
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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on
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Seems to be a perfect opportunity for the union to bring that up to the local media. Why is it there are taxpayer funds for a private firm but they can't fund fire dept issues? I've been to your city and stopped by a couple firehouses and there are more than enough examples out there where funding is needed...this seems to be a waste of taxpayer funds for a private businesses profits.
BTW, no we do not have confinement, but management can ask for verification from a doctor. Several years ago, management felt that sick time was being abused and required anyone taking sick time to have a doctor verification prior to returning to work. The union then said the dept can pick up the costs for such visits.....the process stopped shortly after that. Although, mgmt still can request verification.
It also depends upon the nature of the sick time. We have members who are currently on sick leave for surgeries etc who are able to be out and about.
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Permalink Reply by Oldman on
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We require a physicians release to return to duty. As a general rule, we don't go checking up on people. We don't have to, as they usually tell on themselves. Such as talking about testing for another department, and calling off sick on that day. Just like facebook postings 55 talks about, this is not smart either.
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Permalink Reply by Marc C on
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We are not confined to our homes during when we are sick or injured. The administration does realize that you may have to travel to the doctor or pharmacy. Also, sick leave can be used for immediate family illness. If you are seen out and about the administration may question your sick leave.
Our department just went through some policy changes because the administration felt that sick leave was being abused. This was not a fun process and in the end administration gained more power over sick leave use. I do not agree with the home confinement, but what is the history behind the policy? Has this been in place since the beginning of the department or is it recent? Just curious.
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Permalink Reply by FETC on
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Jerry, thanks for the hint but your profile says where you are from brother.
Where I work we do not have a home confinement clause when you call in sick. But I must add that we do not see people abusing our sick policy either. Here it is self-policed and like many have said already it usually comes out in the wash that someone used sick time to do something outisde of a true illness related benefit.
That said and I travel alot to teach in many department, when administrators look to police their sick time, by checking either internally or using an extrnal source, there is usually a strong indication that your sick use (department wide) is being abused. Like calling in sick on your days but still working OT shifts, or going to family functions, sporting events, etc. because there is no availability for the brother to use vacation (ie. too many off already or if you have a minimum time to request vacation for approval and hire-in before the requested day; like 24 hours) I have even seen departments culture where groups are telling eachother they are going to tap out on these specific days so expect to be heldover... it gives the guy the day off and the holdover guy extra cash) but it is not what the sick benefit was designed for and municipal budgets can take a hit.
Not saying that is what is happening in your department, just a view from an administrator's perspective.
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Permalink Reply by Russ on
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Great topic Jerry and I have 2 stories
(1)- I called in sick and was "spotted" by someone at an intersection traffic light and when I returned to duty I was questioned about it. They didn't buy that I was coming from the doctors office and going to the drug store but (lucky me) I did sign the log at my doctors office and had a time stamp on my receipt from the drug store. At the time I was pissed about it because I get sick time THEN when I use it, I had to account for it or be made to feel like I'm a criminal? NOT FAIR. if I had a track record of sick time abuse, OK but this was my first call off in a couple of years
(2)- When I was a dispatcher I had a supervisor that required you to come in "so she could determine" if you were really sick...She only did this once because an employee she called in to "give her medical opinion" protested that she was too sick to do so. The supervisor wouldn't let up so she came in and she had the flu...and gave it to everybody in the dispatch center (including me) so it was interesting for 2 weeks. The supervisor had to explain the sick time usage to the big bosses and in their investigation the supervisor denied requiring sick employees to come in for her evaluation. NOW the big bosses ARE the bosses because they aint stupid. The supervisor forgot that most lines coming into dispatch...are recorded and that's what burned her
I have heard stories of chiefs going to the houses of firefighters to "see if they needed anything" and some have been righteously busted but if you give sick time you have to expect for it to be used sometime and to answer your question I know of no department that has a home confinement rule...but I'm sure somebody does or will
if your house catches fire while you are out sick, do you really have to stay inside until rescued? lol
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Permalink Reply by Robert Bates on
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We are allowed to go to medical visits, hospital, pharmacy, and grocery store (if no family available to do so for us). But we ae also allowed to use our sick time for tendign to family that is ill - as long as management knows ahead of time. This allows us to be out peforming errnads to support their needs.
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