啊,一年什么消防和美国a. A major pandemic, lockdowns, quarantines, changing leadership at all levels, and fire departments weathering legal issues that have a bad habit of returning year after year in spite of the fire lawyers efforts to educate fire departments into changing their behaviors. It was a bonanza year for attorneys.
The188.博金宝
has departments scrambling to “do the right thing” for your firefighters both in career and volunteer agencies. There has been many educational sessions and published material available from Lexipol (Coronavirus (COVID-19) Training & Policies for Individual Access (lexipol.com)), IAFC | International Association of Fire Chiefs, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) | CDC and your local health department among others. I encourage fire chiefs and administrators to review these sites for information and direction especially in pay and benefits when your firefighters required quarantine and does the department use sick leave, time off with or without pay and what the pay issues are under FLSA.
The new issue is COVID-19 Vaccines and the current issue is, can you require your firefighters to obtain the vaccine? This site outlines the issue in layman’s terms as to the EEO’s position on mandatory vaccinations (The EEOC Releases Guidelines on Mandatory Workplace Vaccinations). In a union environment that has a bargaining agreement, departments must negotiate the effects of mandatory vaccine requirements. Please listen to the Fire Attorneys discuss this issue in their last podcast on Fire Engineering (1).
切换齿轮和审查法院案件在2020年，我看到同一级别的社交媒体，歧视和工作场所骚扰，涉及涉及侵犯您的消防员的合法权利和特权的案例。其中大部分可能归因于缺乏或缺席的可执行政策;对他人的内在偏见看起来不像你主要影响女人和消防员的颜色;各部门培训差，承认和停止歧视，骚扰和欺凌。
There is a general attitude among women and firefighters of color that administration is not going to do anything if they report bad behavior and IN FACT, I will be singled out and sometimes treated worse. The silence is deafening.
I believe the fire department is the institutional form of our collective personalities by in large does the honorable thing by respecting the rights and privileges of our firefighters and the community we protect. Remembering, the fire service is a homogenous group of primarily white men, that is ripe for these types of legal conflict. The culture of the organization needs to change to prevent many of the lawsuits affecting the fire service.
Unfortunately, we have a history of suing each other and a majority of the largest lawsuits with large payouts to the aggrieved firefighter involve our own people in the form of harassment, discrimination, bullying and violations of Constitutional protections under the Civil Rights Acts and its sub parts to include Age Discrimination under ADEA, Pregnancy Discrimination under PDA, rights to return to work after military deployment under USERRA, Gender or Sex Discrimination, pay under FLSA, family leave under FMLA including gender identity or transgender status under the Civil Rights Act, Title VII and other violations of the law. These claims against the department costing our industry millions of dollars in settlement claims or court decisions and polarizes the members of that particular fire department.
我知道我有一种重复自己的倾向，但是预防法律火灾的大部分都与你的部门政策的创造和执行有关，防止了这种行为。“如果只是”是经常听到的陈述，当该部门起诉违反自己的政策或试图在地毯下扫描不良行为。““如果只有我们迟早就行动了”，如果只有我们听到该消防员“或”如果我们有一项政策“。创建“仅限”语句并解决问题。让我们改变“如果只是”响应并通过识别不良行为，让我们实际识别并接受您的消防员和法案责任的差异来更换主动态度。
We also have a smattering of embezzlement and theft from the department from its own employees at all levels. Firefighter to fire chief have been caught stealing from their departments. It’s a good time to stop this career destroying activity.
Let’s look at some of the cases from 2020 affecting the fire department as they are far reaching.
COVID-19 litigation:正如这份撰写的那样，没有Covid 19关于消防部门的Covid 19相关诉讼，但是我们很快就会在违反加班或检疫支付的FLSA下的违规行政违约，在对疾病进行阳性后送回家的违约行为的违约行政区;并使用FMLA这次关闭。这是否适当地使用FMLA或您的PTO？有些部门将Covid积极消防员送回家的“支付”为14天，他们的休假银行和其他部门正在派遣消防员家庭，并在他们的休假银行上拨出，没有薪酬。根据这些索赔，今年保持调整为诉讼。
Firefighter Social Media Use During the Black Lives Matter Movement
Social Media: People, people, people…how many warnings does one need to stay off of social media with your opinions, pissing contests, or other egregious comments> Now I know a certain former elected official got away with a lot by using his social medial platforms to air grievances and ultimately got banned from its use. You, on the other hand, cannot and should not use your social media platform in this manner and these are a few (of many) examples of firefighters and other public officials getting terminated.
• A South Carolina firefighter has been terminated over several social media posts that were found to be racist. The Georgetown County firefighter was fired one day after county officials were informed of the posts.
• From Dave Statter’s and Curt Varone’s blog sites you find: In New York, a Hillcrest Fire Chief faced backlash following a post that discussed following rioters home and burning their properties. The fire company announced it was “looking into” the allegations and the Chief posted a mea culpa but was it enough? Would that have been enough to get you off the hook if you did the same?
• In Florida, a battalion chief with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue was been placed on administrative leave following remarks he posted on social media. The firefighter was accused of having posted “We have reached levels of ludicrous. It’s unbelievable—Leaders kneeling, white people kissing the boots of black people. It’s the great capitulation”. A reminder to you firefighters, we are in the 21st century and racial equality should be the norm. Please leave your bias at home no matter how angry you are or unjust you believe the issue to be.
•在加州莫德斯托区域消防队员是前沿空中管制官ing a pushback and outcry from the community over their social media comments: “All Lives Splatter” and “Nobody cares About Your Protest” along with a police officer (in a different state) was terminated from his employment after making and wearing “T” shirts with the same or similar slogan on them.
A simple guide for fire service leadership related to social media manner:
1. Create a sound, legally-enforceable social media policy that passes muster in the First Amendment, and where applicable, collective bargaining laws;
2. Train your personnel on the policy so that they understand what they can safely post, and what types of posts are likely to get them in trouble; and
3.教导政策的有效监督和执行，以便我们最宝贵的资产，我们的人民以公平合理的方式对待。
Discrimination:The fire service continually finds itself discriminating against their firefighters in many but not novel ways. Violations of our established laws and provisions of the Constitution ultimately result in a “win” for the firefighter and a “loss” for the fire department with major large money judgments. The reality is, it is a loss for the firefighter AND the fire department. Qualified men and women have left their jobs based on this litigation and all they really wanted to be is a firefighter. Someone or many someone’s have ruined those dreams.
Several examples of many examples:
• A veteran San Francisco firefighter claims to have endured decades of harassment on account of his race and sexual orientation, is suing the city in state court on six state law counts. The firefighter filed suit late last year in San Francisco County Superior Court. The firefighter also filed a First Amendment Complaint. The complaint lists numerous examples of offensive and inappropriate conduct he endured dating back to 1999, but the claims in the suit arise out of the treatment he received most recently in his assignment as Firefighter Recruitment Coordinator that lead to a loss of pay and a reduction in work classification. The litigation can be summed up in the following manner: 1) Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation under state law; 2) Race discrimination under state law and 3) sexual orientation and or racial harassment under state law
•埃弗雷特（WA）消防员提出了诉讼，涉及争夺竞争和报复。华盛顿西区美国地方法院的消防员申请套装指控1964年民权法案的第七次诉讼下的一项种族歧视，以及一项报复。消防员声称他在18岁的职业生涯中受到了各种贬损的评论和名称。当他报告的行为时，这座城市没有行动，他的同事们避开了他，当由于基于投诉的非行动而向其中提起指控或投诉时，在消防部门的常见做法。
• A bit of free legal advice to fire department administrators and rank and file, take the complaints serious and make meaningful inquiries, investigations or some affirmative action and stop this behavior.
• A Montebello (CA) fire captain who sued the department for race discrimination in 2013 and 2017, has filed his third race discrimination lawsuit. The fire captain filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging for retaliation, disability discrimination, and violation of the California Firefighter Procedural Bill of Rights. The Captain was placed on administrative leave last summer when the department began investigating him. The department issued him a notice of intent to terminate, and his Skelly Hearing (aka Loudermill Hearing for non-Californians) was held. The complaint alleges the current discipline is attributable to his earlier lawsuits as well as his complaints about racism in the department. The Captain prevailed in his first lawsuit, with a jury in 2015 awarding him $935,150 in damages, $185,150 in lost wages and $750,000 for emotional distress. Do the math on this one. The 2017 suit alleged he was wrongfully passed over for promotion to battalion chief. That case is schedule to go to a jury trial in April 2021.
• Last but certainly not the least, an Asian-American firefighter is suing his fire department and a deputy chief for discrimination over comments the chief made related to COVID-19. The Firefighter filed suit against the City of Plainfield, New Jersey and the Deputy Fire Chief. The suit was originally filed July 23, 2020 in Union County Superior Court, but it was dismissed on August 14, 2020. The firefighter’s attorney filed a motion on August 25, 2020 that resulted in the case being successfully reinstated. The firefighter, a 2-year veteran, claims that the Deputy Chief “mockingly” asked him if he had recently traveled to Wuhan, China “while he squinted his eyes so that they narrowed in a racist caricature of Asian facial features and left his mouth open.” This incident occurred during a training session on COVID19, and the remark was made in the presence of at least 19 firefighters, including five lieutenants and a battalion chief.
Theft:虽然这最近happened in 2021, I thought it is pertinent to provide this advice – DO NOT STEAL COVID 19 vaccinations and I place this in the category of “what were you thinking?”Polk County (FL) Sheriff’s office has arrested Paramedic Joshua Colonand says it will soon arrest Captain Anthony Damiano in connected with the theft of three vials of coronavirus vaccine. Damiano’s arrest is pending his return from an assignment in California. Polk County Fire Rescue named Colon its 2020 paramedic of the year a few weeks ago. Sheesh.
Finally，我们都听到了“没有死和寒冷的死亡而死的旧锯”。在30分钟后呼吁复苏后，将提交5000万美元的诉讼，并发现将患者运送到殡仪馆的患者活着。由EMS人员宣布死亡的残疾人20岁密歇根女性的家庭，但后来决心仍然活着，已经提交了5000万美元的诉讼，抵御Southfield，两个医务人员和两个EMTS。这发生在2020年8月23日，当来自Southfield消防部门的人员发现患者没有呼吸。人员进行了CPR和其他ALS干预措施30分钟，但在用医疗控制检查后，结束了复苏努力。患者后来被运送到詹姆斯H. COLE回家的葬礼，员工发现她还活着。
Unfortunately there are thousands more of these cases of all categories affecting our fire service and there are too many to list in this article. Let’s learn from the mistakes of others and avoid them.
In closing, I am noting that a majority of firefighter deaths in 2020 and now 2021 are from Covid 19. It’s not the old or the infirm that are dying, it’s our healthy firefighters. The numbers are staggering and what’s predicable is preventable. Use the precautions that are available, wear PPE on every EMS call, wash your hands and socially distance yourself. Almost impossible in a fire station but do the best you can. Get tested and above all GET THE VACCINE and be a hero and live to fight another day.
End Notes – listen and read
1. Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccinations for Firefighters? – Fire Engineering
2. Fire Service Court 01/14 by fireengineering | Education (blogtalkradio.com) – Mandatory Vaccine discussion
3. Curt Varone Fire Law Blog – Fire Service and Public Safety Legal Issues Blog by Curt Varone
4. Dave Statter Statter911.com – Firefighter Videos, Firefighting News, Fire Department
5. Gordon Graham – Lexipol.com
6. Most importantly, Firefighters who like to discuss scuttlebutt around the coffee table – listen and learn.
This commentary reflects the views of the author and not necessarily the views of188金宝搏是正规吗.
It should not be construed as legal advice or counsel.
