Tag Archives: professional standards

Today’s burning question: My immediate supervisor recently called me into a conference room and berated me, called me a sandbagger and used numerous expletives (predominantly dropping the "F bomb"). It got so bad, the administrative assistant down the hall heard the berating and walked in because she was concerned about my welfare. As he was in the middle of cussing me I stood up to leave and was told if I left I would face discipline and that I was ordered to sit down or face insubordination charges.

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Today’s burning question: If a misconduct complaint is filed against a fire chief, should subordinate chiefs be allowed to conduct the investigation? Answer: As a general rule, someone who has a potential conflict of interest should not be tasked with conducting a misconduct investigation

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Today’s burning question: If someone wants to file a complaint against a firefighter, can we allow that person to remain anonymous? In other words, should we accept anonymous complaints? Answer: That is a question that comes up a lot in my Fire Department Administrative Investigations and Enforcing Discipline class.

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Seven firefighters from Pullman, Washington have been awarded $1 million in damages in a mind-boggling case worthy of a novel, if not a movie. The case included allegations of a workplace affair, vindictive retaliation, sexual harassment, an officer asking subordinates ...

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One of the areas of my law practice that has been exceptionally busy over the past few years has been firefighter discipline. Many departments are experiencing unprecedented disciplinary issues – and while we can debate the various factors that are ...

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