Burning Question

Burning Question: Part-Time Fire Chiefs and Compensation

Today’s burning question: I am a town manager and we have a small volunteer fire department with a part-time paid fire chief. The chief receives a stipend and is expected to put in 20 hours a week. Can he qualify as an exempt executive like our police chief, even though he is a part-time employee?

Burning Questions: NFPA Standards and Liability

Today’s burning question: Is it safe to say that compliance with NFPA 1710 is a recommendation but not law unless adopted? Answer: Despite the simplicity of your question, it defies a simple yes or no answer. The answer will also vary from state to state, so to get a more definitive answer you need to ask your local legal counsel to know if it applies in your state as a “law” or is simply a “recommendation."

Garrity and Threats to Increase Punishment

Today’s burning question: Last week one of our drivers was written up. When the employee in question went before the Chief and asked to appeal the disciplinary action, he was threatened with a harsher discipline if he chose to move forward with his appeal. Is there a chance this violated the employee’s Garrity rights?

Burning Question: Cancelling Kelly Days

Today’s burning question: Can a fire department cancel a firefighter’s assigned Kelly Day without violating the Fair Labor Standards Act? For example, if firefighters work a 24/48 schedule with Kelly Days every third work period, can the department contact personnel scheduled to be off on a Kelly Day, and require them to work?

Burning Question: Volunteers and the FLSA for Fire Departments Conference

Today’s burning question: I am a volunteer fire chief and have been very interested in taking your FLSA course May 11-14, 2021. Is there any way to just take the section related to volunteer issues at a reduced rate? The other sections are interesting but are not the focus of what I need to know.

Insubordination As A Disciplinary Charge

Today’s burning question: What is "insubordination"? I am so tired of people trying to make fire departments into paramilitary organizations. We are not the military, it’s a vocation. Insubordination has no place in the fire service as a basis for discipline. Answer: While you are correct that fire departments in the US are not part of the military, the term paramilitary has several definitions.

Discipline, Deception and Hard Cases

Today’s burning question: I was disciplined last week because I called in sick to go to my daughter’s hockey game. Her team was in the championship and I could not get anyone to cover my shift. I am being demoted from captain to engineer but we had a captain who got caught lying on-duty and he got virtually no punishment. Why am I being demoted and he get’s a slap on the wrist? Answer: My father has a saying: hard cases make bad law.

Lunch Breaks for Part-Time Employees

Today’s burning question: Do we have to pay part-time firefighter/EMS employees for their lunch break? Answer: First of all, the FLSA does not draw a distinction between full-time, part-time, or per diem employees. An employee is an employee.

FLSA, Vacation and Shift Trades

Today’s burning question: Can a firefighter assigned to a shift position take a 24-hour vacation day and then turn around and work on a shift-trade for a person on that same shift? Answer: Great question. There is nothing in the FLSA that prohibits a firefighter from taking a vacation day and working a shift trade.

Social Media in a Volunteer Department

Today’s Burning Question: Our volunteer fire department has our own Facebook page and the fire-police have a page they created on their own. Please correct me if I am wrong, but doesn’t the Facebook page belong to the creators, not the fire department? In other words, the fire department cannot make the fire-police get rid of the page, can they?

Burning Question on Retention of Fire Reports

Today’s Burning Question: We were cleaning out some of our office storage cabinets and found we have paper copies of our incident reports that go back into the 70’s. How long do we need to legally keep these reports? Answer: Fire reports need to be maintained as long as state law mandates, and perhaps longer

Burning Question: Limiting Off-Duty Work Amid The Covid-19 Pandemic

Today’s Burning Question: Amid the pandemic we are facing my department has instituted new orders to prepare for the near future. Many of our firefighters serve at surrounding fire departments as part-time members. Can the department place restrictions on their off-duty work? Answer: In ordinary times, a fire department that seeks to limit the outside employment of off-duty members faces a number of hurtles.

Orders, Insubordination, Grievances and Protection

Today’s burning question: Are there any cases that address a supervisor giving an "order" that contradicts benefits/privileges secured in a collective bargaining agreement? I mean, can a supervisor give a subordinate an order that violates the collective bargaining agreement? I have been searching everywhere for such a case but cannot find one.

Burning Question on Salary and Shift Work

Today’s burning question: Can a firefighter who works 24 hours-on, on 48 hours-off be put on salary? Answer: There are so many issues within your question. The first point has to do with your use of the term salary. A salary is simply one way an employee can be paid. Employees can be paid...

Page 1 of 1612 3 4 5 » 10...Last »