839-020-0220 Definitions for Regulations Pertaining to Persons Employed by a Public Agency in Fire Protection and Law Enforcement Activities As used in ORS 653.269 and OAR 839-020-0200 to 839-020-0270, unless the context requires otherwise: (1) “Employees employed in fire protection activities” include: (a) A “firefighter” as that term is defined in ORS 652.050; and (b) Any employee: (A) Who is employed by an organized fire department or fire protection district; (B) Who has been trained to the extent required by state statute or local ordinance; (C) Who has the legal authority and responsibility to engage in the prevention, control or extinguishment of a fire of any type; and (D) Who performs activities which are required for, and directly concerned with, the prevention, control or extinguishment of fires, including such incidental non-firefighting functions as housekeeping, equipment maintenance, lecturing, attending community fire drills, and inspecting homes and schools for fire hazards. (c) Employees as defined in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subsection, regardless of their status as “trainee,” “probationary,” or “permanent,” or of their particular specialty or job title (e.g., firefighter, engineer, hose or ladder operator, fire specialist, fire inspector, lieutenant, captain, inspector, fire marshal, battalion chief, deputy chief, or chief), and regardless of their assignment to support activities of the type described in section (2) of this rule, whether or not such assignment is for training or familiarization purposes, or for reasons of illness, injury or infirmity; (d) Rescue and ambulance service personnel if such personnel form an integral part of the public agency’s fire protection activities (see OAR 839-020-0260); (e) Employees who work for forest conservation agencies or other public agencies charged with forest fire fighting responsibilities and who direct or engage in: (A) Fire spotting or lookout activities; or (B) Fighting fires on the fire line or from aircraft; or (C) Operating tank trucks, bulldozers and tractors for the purpose of clearing fire breaks. (f) Employees as defined in paragraph (e) of this subsection, regardless of their status as full time or part time agency employees or as temporary or casual workers employed for a particular fire or for periods of high fire danger, including those who have had no prior training; (g) Any employee who actually engages in fire protection activities as defined in this section and in the simultaneous performance of such related functions as housekeeping, equipment maintenance, tower repairs and/or the construction of fire roads. (2) “Employees employed in fire protection activities” does not include: (a) “Civilian” employees of a fire department, fire district, or forestry service who engage in such support activities as those performed by dispatchers, alarm operators, apparatus and equipment repair and maintenance workers, camp cooks, clerks and stenographers; (b) Maintenance and office personnel who do not fight fires on a regular basis, although such employees may be included during emergency situations when they are called upon to spend substantially all (i.e., 80 percent or more) of their time during the applicable work period in one or more of the activities described in paragraph (e) of this section. (3) “Employees employed in law enforcement activities” include: (a) Any employee who is a uniformed or plainclothed member of a body of officers and subordinates who are empowered by state statute or local ordinance to enforce laws designed to maintain public peace and order and to protect both life and property from accidental or willful injury, and to prevent and detect crimes and: (A) Who has the power to arrest; and (B) Who is presently undergoing or has undergone or will undergo on-the-job training and/or a course of instruction and study which typically includes physical training, self-defense, firearm proficiency, criminal and civil law principles, investigation and law enforcement techniques, community relations, medical aid and ethics. (b) Employees as defined in paragraph (a) of this subsection, regardless of their rank, or of their status as “trainee,” “probationary,” or “permanent,” and regardless of their assignment to duties incidental to the performance of their law enforcement activities such as equipment maintenance or lecturing, or to support activities of the type described in section (8) of this rule, whether or not such assignment is for training or familiarization purposes, or for reasons of illness, injury or infirmity; (c) Rescue and ambulance service personnel if such personnel form an integral part of the public agency’s law enforcement activities (see OAR 839-020-0260). (4) “Employees employed in law enforcement activities” typically include city police; district or local police, sheriffs, under sheriffs or deputy sheriffs who are regularly employed and paid as such; court marshals or deputy marshals; constables and deputy constables who are regularly employed and paid as such; border control agents; state troopers and highway patrol officers. Other agency employees not specifically mentioned may, depending upon the particular facts and pertinent statutory provisions in that jurisdiction meet the tests described in section (3) of this rule. If so, for purposes of ORS 653.269(3), they will also qualify as law enforcement officers. Such employees might include, for example, fish and game wardens or criminal investigative agents assigned to the office of a district attorney, an attorney general, a solicitor general or any other law enforcement agency concerned with keeping public peace and order and protecting life and property. (5) Employees who do not meet each of the three tests described in section (3) of this rule are not engaged in “law enforcement activities” as that term is used in ORS 653.269(3). Employees who normally would not meet each of these tests include: (a) Building inspectors (other than those defined in OAR 839-020-0240); (b) Health inspectors; (c) Animal control personnel; (d) Sanitarians; (e) Civilian traffic employees who direct vehicular and pedestrian traffic at specified intersections or other control points; (f) Civilian parking checkers who patrol assigned areas for the purpose of discovering parking violations and issuing appropriate warnings or appearance notices; (g) Wage and hour compliance officers; (h) Equal employment opportunity compliance officers; (i) Tax compliance officers; (j) Coal mining inspectors; and (k) Building guards whose primary duty is to protect the lives and property of persons within the limited area of the building. (6) “Correctional institution” means any government facility maintained as part of a penal system for the incarceration or detention of persons suspected or convicted of having breached the peace or committed some other crime. Typically, such facilities include penitentiaries, prisons, prison farms, county, city and village jails, precinct house lockups and reformatories. (7) “Security personnel in correctional institutions” include those who have responsibility for controlling and maintaining custody of inmates and of safeguarding them from other inmates or for supervising such functions, regardless of whether their duties are performed inside the correctional institution or outside the institution (as in the case of road gangs). These employees are considered to be engaged in law enforcement activities regardless of their rank (e.g., warden, assistant warden or guard) or of their status as “trainee,” “probationary,” or “permanent,” and regardless of their assignment to duties incidental to the performance of their law enforcement activities, or to support activities of the type described in section (5) of this rule, whether or not such assignment is for training or familiarization purposes or for reasons of illness, injury or infirmity. (8) “Employees employed in law enforcement activities” does not include: (a) “Civilian” employees of law enforcement agencies or correctional institutions who engage in such support activities as those performed by dispatcher, radio operators, apparatus and equipment maintenance and repair workers, janitors, clerks and stenographers; (b) Employees in correctional institutions who engage in building repair and maintenance, culinary services, teaching, or in psychological, medical and paramedical services, even though such employees may, when assigned to correctional institutions, come into regular contact with the inmates in the performance of their duties. Statutory/Other Authority: ORS 279.342(3) Statutes/Other Implemented: ORS 279.342 History: BL 8-1997, f. & cert. ef. 11-13-97