Firefighting & Rescue Social / Professional Network
Work Vs. Fire Service
Do any of ya'll volunteer's have trouble with your day jobs letting you go to calls? If so how do you handle it? I recently got a part time job, and I made a condition for hire that they let me go on fire calls (well, the ones besides medicals cuz it's the next town over), and they agreed. Now one of the bosses was trying to get me fired over the fact that I have to leave sometimes. The other boss wouldn't let this boss fire me cuz this establishment agreed to my condition at hire. We're under new managment now so corporate is involved and labour costs have become an issue so everyone's hours are being cut, but I feel like the scheduling manager (the who wanted me fired) is really hacking mine to pieces to try and drive me to quit. So what do you ya'll do in those type situations?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by john orndorff on
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in looking at your profile i see that you are new to the service, glad that you joined thanks for helping out. But here in lies the problem, unless you are self employed or work for some one in the fire service it is hard to get some employers to let you leave from work to run calls. So some times you just have to deal with it and do your job at work. Sorry but that is the truth. The newness will wear-off.
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Permalink Reply by matthew ellis on -
Vol fire service isn't gonna sign your paycheck. Only go when ya can. Leaving work to run calls isn't a good idea. Creates problems and makes work more stressful.
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Permalink Reply by ffbam24 on
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The fire service is different these days. Volunteerism is down and the corporate world isn't very supportive of it.
One thing always stuck with me from the orientation session at my old volunteer (combination) deparment, "Work comes first." Do not jeopardize your well-being for a call.
I definitely missed out on a few jobs because of work, but you know what? Calls would happen if I was there or not.
An article in October's Firehouse magazine had a great article on volunteerism' decline. Talked about drastic decline in numbers in states such as PA (-76%) and NY (-31%); combined household incomes being necessary; and the decreased tolerance of jobs letting people go to calls.
Some states have laws governing the allowances volunteers can take in responding to calls while at work. Look into what your state allows.
From your profile, you are part of a team enviornment. You are putting an undue burden on your co-workers everytime you leave. That job may also be a great experience for you to capitalize on in an interview should you decide to make firefighting a career.
Nutshell:
1. Work comes first.
2. Don't make waves.
Good luck,
bam
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Permalink Reply by Terry Lambert on -
As a volunteer, I am lucky to work for a corporation, and boss that understands fire service. As a corporation, they make alote of things that we as firefighter's use, and my boss is a life member of a volunteer dept., so those of us that are volunteer's get some leyway for showing up for work in the morning late if we have run a call. But we do not leave work to run a call. Like everyone else has said, work comes first. Your fire dept. does not sign your paycheck. It was good of them to allow you to respond to calls from work, but if this new manager is looking closely at you, you just need to lay low for awhile and stay at work. One thing about the fire service, there are always going to be calls.
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Permalink Reply by Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich on
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In Illinois, we have laws that protect the jobs of volunteer firefighters. They cannot be fired if they are late or cannot report for their shift, due to an incident. You do have to provide documentation; usually a letter from the chief. Your absence or tardy cannot be used against your attendance record, with proper documentation.
Now; the laws do not allow for LEAVING work. That is up the employee and employers.
In your case, I hope that you got a guarantee to leave for an incident that included "and it won't be charged to my attendance"!
Sounds like the scheduling guy has a bone on for firefighters. Either that, or you are missing a lot of work.
Look at it from an employers perspective; if you work for a small company and don't come in or you leave early and you are in a key position, it puts a strain on the company. They don't have people sitting around to take your place to go fight fires. If you say, "several can do my job", then they don't need you, do they? If you say, "it doesn't happen that often", then I agree; they need to make adjustments.
From your perspective; get the chief to talk to them and stress how short handed and how important it is to allow you to leave and that might do the trick.
And THANK THEM when you return from a call.
Art
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Permalink Reply by Beth on -
Around here bossess don't care why you are late. You are late and that goes against you. You also can not leave during work to run calls. Some times you have to suck it up and cut your pager off while at work. I know it will be hard but you gotta do what you gotta do to keep your bills paid.
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Well said.
I never had a problem with leaving work to respond. But then, I am salaried.
And you are right; if that 3 dollar check for the call will pay the bills, then have at it.
This issue is a paradox of sorts. Team, if you will.
There is the company team; there is the fire department team.
In this case, which team will suffer OR can BOTH teams benefit?
Hmmmm.
Art
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Permalink Reply by turk182 on -
My advice is to stay at work your department should have enough guy to run the alarms and if not thats why we have mutual aid agreements your family and bills come first.
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Permalink Reply by Really living is optional on -
Well, I'm on disability but can work some so the extra cash is nice for some spending money. I don't have a family to support but am trying to get my own place. I'm definitly more loyal to my family at the dept, than the resturaunt. It's in a different town so I don't leave to run medicals. Just fires, wrecks, car fires and gas leaks. Stuff like that. We don't get an obscene number of pages. I've left work like a total of 3 times in a month. There's other stuff going on with this manager too. I confronted them tonight cuz I'm only scheduled for 4 hours for the entire week. I tried explaining to her what if her house was on fire and other employers wouldn't let ff's go? She said that's not her problem. ?? She said if I wanna be totally into ff go be a paid ff. She's not from around here and doesn't understand how it works. The majority of all our departments are volunteer rural depts. Here in this town there is a paid dept but, it's hard to get on and they pull from their volunteer pool.
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I am going to play "devil's advocate" here, but think about what you are saying.
On the one hand, you are upset, because your boss doesn't want you leaving work to run calls.
On the other hand, she is not scheduling you with as many hours because she feels (a) you're not around much anyhow or (b) she is giving you less time at work and more tiime to run calls.
It almost sounds like you want everything your way and won't flex.
Maybe you should look at it as a gift or find another job that will allow you to leave work and run calls. And if they pay you while you're on a call too, well, then, they are a keeper.
Art
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Okay, now I'm just going to chastise you.
You have literally bit the hand that feeds you. (Or in this case gives you extra spending money.)
You "confronted them"? Not a wise move IMO.
You stated that you left work for a total of 3 times in a month. Work still sees that as having left work 3 times in a month.
I can't even count that high for how many times I left work in a 5 year period.
You have basically disregarded any advice that was given to you here. Did you not read the comments saying "lay low", "work comes first", "don't make waves"?
How much did they cut your hours?
Is 4 hours/week a drastic decrease?
Yes, it is unfortunate that your department relies heavily on volunteers to be able to leave work in order to respond. In your case, your job is not tolerant of this and it is not in your best interest to do so.
Like Art says above, perhaps utilize the other hours of the week to look for a job that will let you respond.
bam
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Permalink Reply by Lawrence W on -
I have been fortunate as I work for a large corporation and my boss is a retired Battalion Chief for a major city. He has given me the flexibility to be late if I was on a call, but I cannot leave to run one. There is making a living, and there is contributing to your community. Unfortunately, these two sometimes have to be separated for the good of your financial stability.
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