FireLink

well, it depends on which job...one does, ther other is 20 miles away, so its pointless. idk about other states, but they dont have to let u go here...however if u are late b/c of a fire/med call they cant punish you...

dept24emt said:

well, it depends on which job...one does, ther other is 20 miles away, so its pointless. idk about other states, but they dont have to let u go here...however if u are late b/c of a fire/med call they cant punish you...

I'm not allowed to leave work to go on a call, but I am allowed to leave school with teacher's permission as long as I have a note from my chief.

Mine depends. As a teacher, it's often difficult for me to leave. However, if it's last period (which is Fire Science anyway) AND I can get someone to cover for me, I can leave. I try not to abuse that too often.

Mine boss lets me leave for a call....but most of the time its pointless because im at least an hour away most of the time.

Rank has its privledges. As an instructor for a military training school, if I have a class in session, then I normally won't leave (unless I can find coverage). However if manure hits the fan then I can leave at my discretion. With the drought conditions we were experiencing, our local emergency management office actually had letters typed up and signed by the district judges to the various employers of our members asking them to release them in the event of a large-scale grassfire.

BLPavlovich said:

Wow that's a little harsh that the American Red Cross fired you over something that they work so closely with. But no offense to you, on the same note, they have a point that you should have called them to inform them you were on the call and may be late.

If something happens before I get to work and after I drop the kids off, they don't care if I'm late. But I work with patients in a hospital. I don't even carry my pager at work. If a major disaster occurs ( IE;tornado, etc...) then, as long as my kids are safe, I'm outta there!

My bosses have told me no matter what the call is, I can not leave, which doesn't matter much considering I work 35 miles from the station and my radio will not receive transmissions that for out. If a call goes out in the morning before I get here, I will go but I have been told that I can be fired for showing up late no matter what the reason. That;s the thing about Texas, they can fire you with out reason, if they don't like the clothes you wore to work that day, they can fire you and not have to give you a valid reason. I am also on the emergency response team for my employer, so they take advantage of the emergency responce training (i.e. medical and incident command training) that I have at no cost to them but they will not allow me to miss a minute of THIER time to help others. THAT IS A BIG STEAMING PILE OF HORSE S*@T IF YOU ASK ME!!!!

I understand in MA it is illegal to terminate or discipline a volunteer FF for responding to a call.  Back when I worked there (but volunteered in another state) I did have a boss tell me FF'g was my hobby and it better not interfere with my job.  I was extemely polite, referred him to the law, and reminded him I was part of the fire supresssion system for at least two of our clients.  I then gently suggested I would never spend so much as a split second debating whether to respond to a fire/rescue/medical call even if it meant being late for work.  I told him, if he had a problem with that, he should consider what would happen to him, his lovely family and his home if there were not people like me willing to give up their time to train and respond.  I never heard another word on the subject.

On a brighter note, our town allows responders to go on "company time" and most of our local employers do as well (subject to certain constraints like teachers cannot leave students unattended etc).