II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1025 

To prohibit termination of employment of volunteer firefighters and emergency 

medical personnel responding to emergencies or major disasters, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 12, 2009 

Mr. CARPER (for himself and Ms. COLLINS) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To prohibit termination of employment of volunteer firefighters and emergency medical personnel responding to 

emergencies or major disasters, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Volunteer Firefighter 

5 and EMS Personnel Job Protection Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTER AND EMS PERSONNEL 

2 JOB PROTECTION. 

3 Title VII of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 

4 and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5201 et seq.) 

5 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 707. VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTER AND EMS PER7 SONNEL JOB PROTECTION. 

8 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

9 ‘‘(1) QUALIFIED VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPART10 MENT.—The term ‘qualified volunteer fire depart11 ment’ has the meaning given such term in section 

12 150(e) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 

13 ‘‘(2) VOLUNTEER EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERV14 ICES.—The term ‘volunteer emergency medical serv15 ices’ means emergency medical services performed 

16 on a voluntary basis for a fire department or other 

17 emergency organization. 

18 ‘‘(3) VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTER.—The term 

19 ‘volunteer firefighter’ means an individual who is a 

20 member in good standing of a qualified volunteer 

21 fire department. 

22 ‘‘(b) TERMINATION OF EMPLOYMENT OF VOLUN23 TEER FIREFIGHTERS AND EMERGENCY MEDICAL PER24 SONNEL PROHIBITED.— 

25 ‘‘(1) TERMINATION PROHIBITED.—No employee 

26 may be terminated, demoted, or in any other manner 


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1 discriminated against in the terms and conditions of 

2 employment because such employee is absent from 

3 or late to the employee’s employment for the pur4 pose of serving as a volunteer firefighter or pro5 viding volunteer emergency medical services as part 

6 of a response to an emergency or major disaster. 

7 ‘‘(2) DEPLOYMENT.—The prohibition in para8 graph (1) shall apply to an employee serving as a 

9 volunteer firefighter or providing volunteer emer10 gency medical services if such employee— 

11 ‘‘(A) is specifically deployed to respond to 

12 the emergency or major disaster in accordance 

13 with a coordinated national deployment system 

14 such as the Emergency Management Assistance 

15 Compact or a pre-existing mutual aid agree16 ment; or 

17 ‘‘(B) is a volunteer firefighter who— 

18 ‘‘(i) is a member of a qualified volun19 teer fire department that is located in the 

20 State in which the emergency or major dis21 aster occurred; 

22 ‘‘(ii) is not a member of a qualified 

23 fire department that has a mutual aid 

24 agreement with a community affected by 

25 such emergency or major disaster; and 


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1 ‘‘(iii) has been deployed by the emer2 gency management agency of such State to 

3 respond to such emergency or major dis4 aster. 

5 ‘‘(3) LIMITATIONS.—The prohibition in para6 graph (1) shall not apply to an employee who— 

7 ‘‘(A) is absent from the employee’s employ8 ment for the purpose described in paragraph 

9 (1) for more than 14 days per calendar year; 

10 ‘‘(B) responds on the emergency or major 

11 disaster without being officially deployed as de12 scribed in paragraph (2); or 

13 ‘‘(C) fails to provide the written 

14 verification described in paragraph (5) within a 

15 reasonable period of time. 

16 ‘‘(4) WITHHOLDING OF PAY.—An employer 

17 may reduce an employee’s regular pay for any time 

18 that the employee is absent from the employee’s em19 ployment for the purpose described in paragraph 

20 (1). 

21 ‘‘(5) VERIFICATION.—An employer may require 

22 an employee to provide a written verification from 

23 the official of the Federal Emergency Management 

24 Agency supervising the Federal response to the 

25 emergency or major disaster or a local or State offiVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:31 May 13, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1025.IS S1025

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1 cial managing the local or State response to the 

2 emergency or major disaster that states— 

3 ‘‘(A) the employee responded to the emer4 gency or major disaster in an official capacity; 

5 and 

6 ‘‘(B) the schedule and dates of the employ7 ee’s participation in such response. 

8 ‘‘(6) REASONABLE NOTICE REQUIRED.—An em9 ployee who may be absent from or late to the em10 ployee’s employment for the purpose described in 

11 paragraph (1) shall— 

12 ‘‘(A) make a reasonable effort to notify the 

13 employee’s employer of such absence; and 

14 ‘‘(B) continue to provide reasonable notifi15 cations over the course of such absence. 

16 ‘‘(c) RIGHT OF ACTION.— 

17 ‘‘(1) RIGHT OF ACTION.—An individual who 

18 has been terminated, demoted, or in any other man19 ner discriminated against in the terms and condi20 tions of employment in violation of the prohibition 

21 described in subsection (b) may bring, in a district 

22 court of the United States of appropriate jurisdic23 tion, a civil action against individual’s employer 

24 seeking— 


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1 ‘‘(A) reinstatement of the individual’s 

2 former employment; 

3 ‘‘(B) payment of back wages; 

4 ‘‘(C) reinstatement of fringe benefits; and 

5 ‘‘(D) if the employment granted seniority 

6 rights, reinstatement of seniority rights. 

7 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—The individual shall com8 mence a civil action under this subsection not later 

9 than 1 year after the date of the violation of the 

10 prohibition described in subsection (b).’’. 

11 SEC. 3. STUDY AND REPORT. 

12 (a) STUDY.—The Secretary of Labor shall conduct 

13 a study on the impact that this Act could have on the 

14 employers of volunteer firefighters or individuals who pro15 vide volunteer emergency medical services and who may 

16 be called on to respond to an emergency or major disaster. 

17 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 12 months after the 

18 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Labor 

19 shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees 

20 a report on the study conducted under subsection (a). 

21 (c) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES.— 

22 In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate congressional com23 mittees’’ means the Committee on Health, Education, 

24 Labor, and Pensions and the Committee on Small Busi25 ness and Entrepreneurship of the Senate and the ComVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:31 May 13, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1025.IS S1025

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1 mittee on Education and the Workforce and the Com2 mittee on Small Business of the House of Representatives. 

Æ 


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