Volunteer Fire Fighters and Your Day Job-What do they say???????

I work for a major auto retail store.They have a policy for volunteer firefighters and police.If something comes up, I only have to let my boss know whats up and go.They require a notice from the chief however I have gained the trust from them and do not need it.I am a Division Chief at the dept. which does require a certain amount of dedication ,But I have been able to balance to two .Not many places I know about support us as much as this company.During the huricanes which did alot of damage in our town, My boss called and told me to "stay in your community and take care of the people".I know this cost them but they only wanted to make sure the people of the town were safe.I cannot imagine working anywhere else.What does your paying job say?Do they support it?

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Permalink Reply by Richard Martini152 on October 23, 2008 at 7:24am

My boss wont let me carry my pager at work let alone leave. Man i need a new boss.

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Permalink Reply by Jared Lelaidier on October 23, 2008 at 7:45am

I cannot leave work but my town had a tornado last nov. and my boss at the time understood and let me leave, but I get laid off this friday so no more bosses just fires and school.

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Permalink Reply by Matt Hanna on October 23, 2008 at 8:28am

Wish my former employer had a policy for call/volunteer firefighters. It wasn't to bad when I started going on calls during my day job,but I guess after some period of time someone had enough of me leaving work to handle the calls.
The town where I worked and lived in was a call department and most of the other members all worked out of town and didn't leave many members in-town. I always came back after each call and made up the time I was gone for.

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Permalink Reply by Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich on October 23, 2008 at 8:38am

I have been salaried most of my adult life.
If I had to leave, I would leave.
No one gave me any guff.
Where the problem develops is with the ones who have an attendance problem to begin with and then screams bloody murder when they can't leave for a call or the call results in disciplinary action because of their atrocious attendance anyway.
If people would be honest and committed to their employers, I don't think ANY employer would be opposed to an employee leaving work to respond if needed. Key word here being "needed".
TCSS.
Art

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Permalink Reply by mkempton on October 23, 2008 at 4:52pm

My dad has three EMT-s that are allowed to respond from work in NYC. They work for an insurance company. It's an odd situation because they're all on salary, for both the insurance company and the EMT company. Best part is, they do it all five work days and are getting paid each 60,000 alone through the EMS.

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Permalink Reply by Kenneth Holley on October 23, 2008 at 6:20pm

If there was a major incident and i was needed it would probable be ok for me to leave work. But the real thrill ihas been that when i tell my bosses that i'm a volunteer firefighter they say "That's neat. How long have you been doing that?" When i tell them 25 years they get the strangest look on their face. They can't believe that someone could be that dedicated to something other than work.

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Permalink Reply by Donald on October 25, 2008 at 9:52am

I work for a very large world wide company and they allow you to be late or leave for a call. It is in written policy in our company handbook that they just need to bring a note from the O.I.C. on that call. We don't get held accountable or paid for the time missed.