Jamaica Firefighter Suspended Over Protest

A Jamaica firefighter who held a one-man protest over a change in shifts has been suspended. Sergeant Leo Bennett held the protest yesterday, claiming that most of the firefighters in Jamaica prefer to continue working the 24-hour shifts they have been working since COVID began.

NJ Court Rules Assignment of Probationary Firefighters Is Bargainable

Where firefighters are able to collectively bargaining, what subjects are bargainable, and what subjects not? That question intrigued me in law school to the point that it became the focus of my senior thesis: The Scope of Collective Bargaining for Firefighters.

Atlantic City Firefighters Suit Removed to Federal Court

A suit filed last week by the Atlantic City Firefighters, IAFF Local 198 against the City of Atlantic City and the State of New Jersey over proposed fire departments cutbacks has been removed to federal court.

RI Supreme Court Finds the Loophole They Were Looking For – Welcome to the Dark Ages of Collective Bargaining

In a stunning reversal the Rhode Island Supreme Court has ruled that the Town of North Kingstown was justified in increasing the hours of its firefighters by 14 hours per week without bargaining because the firefighters' union failed to meet a statutory deadline.

North Kingstown Firefighters Prevail Again

There has been another decision favoring the North Kingstown Firefighters, IAFF Local 1651 in the contentious battle with town over switching from a four-shift 42 hour work-week to a three-shift fifty-six hour work-week without negotiating or compensating them for the ...

Seven North Kingstown Fire Department Cases Consolidated

In a highly unusual move, the Presiding Justice of the Superior Courts in the State of Rhode Island, Judge Alice B. Gibney, today consolidated seven different Superior Court lawsuits that have arisen out of the efforts of the town of ...

Fire Law Blog Fire Service and Public Safety Legal Issues Blog by Curt Varone