Emergency Responders Employment Protection Act

by: southernbluedog

Mon Jun 22, 2009 at 12:40:48 PM EDT

Click Here for access to the legislature's website for the bill.  Click Here for today's Courier Post/AP article on the topic.

For those of you not familiar, this legislation would protect the jobs of volunteers if they respond to an emergency incident (i.e. large house fire) BEFORE they go to work and are not able to make it to work on time.  This bill does NOT mandate employers allow volunteers to leave in the middle of a work day.  I suggest giving it a quick read for a better explanation.

I urge the Assembly to approve of this piece of legislation during Thursday's floor vote.  

When that gets done, I strongly urge the Senate (I'm talking to you, Sweeney and Codey) to swiftly pass this legislation so the Governor can sign it into law.

Follow me below the fold (if I can get away with stealing that phrase)...

Here's the scenario...

You are a volunteer firefighter.  It is 3:00am, the pager goes off and you are dispatched to a large house fire on the other side of town.  You have a job at McDonald's (for lack of a better imagination), and your shift starts at 10:00am.  You are stuck at the scene of the fire because the fire has not been extinguished and once that is done, you have to help clean up the equipment, or at the very least, load it back on the truck so it can be cleaned at the fire station.  You don't get to work until 11:00am, an hour after your shift, but you called work at 8:00am to tell them you would be late.  Once you get to work, you are fired because you were late for work.

Click Here for a story about a female volunteer, making $11.50 an hour assisting foster families.  She was fired from her job because she was tied up on a structure fire.

Click Here for a news story about a male volunteer from Iowa who was fired because he was late to work.

Click Here for a news story about a female volunteer from New York that was fired from her $12.50/hr job because she was deemed not-dependable because she skipped work to fight a fire for 12 hours.

My father responded to New York City as part of a task-force in response to the attacks on 9/11.  He did one tour with an ambulance crew and then did a few other tours, dealing mainly with mental health issues.  For a significant amount of time, the city was on lock-down, and no one was allowed to leave the city.  Unfortunately, during that lock-down, his employer called him to tell him he needed to return to work or he would get suspended.  It turned out my dad had to stay in the city for another few days, and fortunately he did not get suspended.  Either way, it's not right for the threat to be there, especially in times of a national emergency.

These are just a few stories of volunteer emergency responders who have had their jobs taken away because they volunteered to protect/save life and property in their community for FREE.  I can guarantee you this happens a lot more than is reported.

I once again urge the Assembly to pass this on Thursday.  

I also urge the Senate to introduce and pass their version of the bill so the Governor can sign it into law.