I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3949 
To protect volunteer firefighters and emergency medical services personnel 
responding to national emergencies from termination or demotion in 
their places of employment. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 29, 2005 
Mr. CASTLE (for himself, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania, and 
Mr. PASCRELL) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To protect volunteer firefighters and emergency medical serv-
ices personnel responding to national emergencies from 
termination or demotion in their places of employment. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Volunteer Firefighter 
and EMS Personnel Job Protection Act ’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
As used in this Act— 
(1) the term ‘‘volunteer firefighter’’ means an 
individual who is a member in good standing of a
qualified volunteer fire department, as defined in 
section 150(e) of the Internal Revenue Code of 
1986; 
(2) the term ‘‘volunteer emergency medical 
services’’ means emergency medical services per-
formed on a voluntary basis for a fire department or 
other emergency organization; and 
(3) the terms ‘‘emergency’’ and ‘‘major dis-
aster’’ have the meanings given such terms in sec-
tion 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 
and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122). 
SEC. 3. TERMINATION OF EMPLOYMENT OF VOLUNTEER 
FIREFIGHTERS AND EMERGENCY MEDICAL 
PERSONNEL PROHIBITED. 
(a) TERMINATION PROHIBITED.—No person may be 
terminated, demoted, or in any other manner discrimi-
nated against in the terms and conditions of employment 
because the employee, when acting as a volunteer fire-
fighter or performing volunteer emergency medical serv-
ices, is absent from or late to his or her employment in 
order to respond to an emergency or major disaster. 
(b) LIMITATION.—Subsection (a) shall not apply if 
such person is absent from his or her employment for the 
purposes described in subsection (a) for a period of more 
than 14 days per calendar year.
(c) WITHHOLDING
OF
PAY.—An employer may 
charge, against the employee’s regular pay, any time that 
an employee loses from employment because of the em-
ployee’s response to an emergency or major disaster in the 
course of performing his or her duties as a volunteer fire-
fighter or performing volunteer emergency medical serv-
ices. 
(d) CERTIFICATION.—The employer may request the 
employee to provide the employer with a written 
verification from the Federal Emergency Management 
Agency official supervising the Federal response to the 
emergency or major disaster or a local or State official 
managing the emergency or major disaster stating that 
the employee responded to the emergency or major dis-
aster in an official capacity and stating the time and dates 
of the emergency or major disaster. 
(e) REASONABLE NOTICE REQUIRED.—An employee 
who may be absent from or late to his or her employment 
in order to respond to an emergency or major disaster in 
the course of performing his or her duties as a volunteer 
firefighter or performing volunteer emergency medical 
services shall make a reasonable effort to notify his or her 
employer that he or she may be absent or late and shall 
continue to provide such reasonable notifications over the 
course of his or her absence.
SEC. 4. RIGHT OF ACTION. 
(a) RIGHT OF ACTION.—A person who has been ter-
minated, demoted, or in any other manner discriminated 
against in the terms and conditions of employment in vio-
lation of this Act may bring in a district court of the 
United States of appropriate jurisdiction, a civil action 
against his or her employer who violated this Act. 
(b) DAMAGES.—The employee may seek reinstate-
ment to his or her former position, payment of back 
wages, reinstatement of fringe benefits, and, where senior-
ity rights are granted, reinstatement of seniority rights. 
(c) LIMITATION.—The employee must commence 
such an action within 1 year after the date of the violation 
of this Act. 
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