Fire Law Podcast

In this episode of Fire Law Roundup for June 20, 2022, Brad and Curt discuss a court ruling upholding the termination of a Hunstville, TX firefighter; the indefinite suspension of a San Antonino captain for waiving a handgun at colleagues; a disability discrimination suit by an FDNY EMT terminated for not getting a COVID vaccine; the dismissal of a retaliation suit by a LAFD firefighter; and concerns about an uptick in lawsuits against fire while assisting police.

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In this episode, Curt and attorney Paul Samakow discuss the Firefighter’s Rule, and in particular the challenges of recovering damages for burn injuries. Paul is a nationally known advocate for burn survivors and their families. He has a national practice representing burn survivors.

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In this episode, Curt interviews Attorney Liam O’Connell who represents Fire Chief James Doyle and numerous Rockport taxpayers who are concerned with the actions of town officials that they claim are illegal. Chief Doyle is facing a termination hearing this week while the taxpayers are suing the town’s Board of Selectmen challenging the town’s efforts to take control of the fire department.

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In this episode of Fire Law VLOG, Curt and Bill Maccarone discuss the changes that the Biden administration has already implemented to the Fair Labor Standards Act that will impact the fire service. They also discuss the changes that may likely be coming.

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In this edition of Fire Law Vlog, Curt and Bill Maccarone discuss a recent decision out of Texas holding that firefighters at DFW assigned to EMS do not qualify for the 207k exemption. Why is that a big deal? Because without the 207k exemption they are entitled to overtime after 40 hours per week, not 212 hours in 28 days!

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In this episode of Fire Law VLOG and Fire Law Podcast, Curt and attorney Kevin Fairlie discuss the recent action by the federal government to deposit funds in the bank accounts of fire departments that bill for EMS. The deposit has certain strings attached, which fire chiefs need to understand.

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In this episode, Curt and Bill Maccarone discuss the legal implication of the Corona Virus COVID-19 quarantine on fire departments and firefighters. Quarantine raises questions associated with sick leave, work-time, overtime, and workers compensation and all are discussed in the podcast.

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In this episode, Curt follows up a podcast from last month with attorney Kevin Fairlie to address some questions that listeners submitted about the challenges associated with fire departments who bill Medicare and Medicaid for EMS transports. Kevin’s law practice concentrates on health care related topics including EMS billing practices.

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In this episode, Curt and Bill Maccarone expound on Curt’s January, 2020 article in Firehouse Magazine addressing the most common ways that fire departments are being sued for overtime violations. In the podcast, they go beyond the top five reasons in explaining the overtime issues that are leading to most lawsuits.

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In today’s episode, Curt discusses the results of a survey of legal proceedings in fire departments with firefighter-attorney Bill Maccarone. The raw data from the survey is provided below. My recommendation is that you view the data while listening to the podcast, as during the podcast we do not mention all of the actual numbers.

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In this episode, Curt discusses an FLSA lawsuit filed by a Memphis firefighter, Jon Misewicz, over the issue of whether firefighters have to be compensated for attending mandatory paramedic training. Misewizc v. City of Memphis is the definitive ruling on the compensability of EMS training time for firefighters.

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The Orland Park Fire Protection District joined 13 Illinois communities in filing suit against drug manufacturers and distributors over the opioid epidemic. In this episode, Curt discusses the suit with attorney Ari Scharg, who represents Orland Park.

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In this episode, Curt discusses a little known problem, Pink Collar Theft, with Kelly Paxton. Kelly runs the web site pinkcollarfraud.com and is helping to debunk the myths that many of us have about fire service embezzlement.

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In this episode, Curt discusses drone law with Dr. Thomas Abbott and Civil Air Patrol Commander Daniel Leclair from the University of Maine’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems program. Tom is the director of the university’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems program and Dan is one of the instructors.

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