An Act To Establish a Fair System for the Protection of Volunteer Firefighters' Employment (AFTER DEADLINE)
Maine Legislature, Session 122, LD 1652
Committee: Labor
Sponsors: DUCHESNE, ANNIS, DUPLESSIE, HUTTON

Legislative Document 
No. 1652 
H.P.1166 
House of Representatives, May 5, 2005 
An Act To Establish a Fair System for the Protection of Volunteer 
Firefighters' Employment 
(AFTER DEADLINE) 
Approved for introduction by a majority of the Legislative Council pursuant to Joint Rule 
205. 
Reference to the Committee on Labor suggested and ordered printed. 
Presented by Representative DUCHESNE of Hudson. 
7J1~ 
1?1·771d£~ 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Cosponsored by Representatives: ANNIS of Dover-Foxcroft, DUPLESSIE of Westbrook, 
HUTTON of Bowdoinham. 
Printed on recycled paper 
Be it enacted by the People or the State or Maine as follows: 
Sec. I. 26 MRSA c. 7, sub-c. 4-C is enacted to read: 
SUBCHAPTER 4-C 
VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTER; ABSENCE FR(J( WORK 
§809. 
Absence for emergency response 
1. 
Definitions. 
As 
used 
~ext otherwise 
indicates, 
following meanings. 
in 
the 
this subchapter, 
following 
terms 
unless the 
have 
the 
A. 
"Employer" 
means 
any 
private 
or 
public 
employer, 
including the State and political subdivisions of the State, 
that employs 5 or more full time-equivalent employees. 
B. 
"Responding 
to 
an 
emergency" 
means 
responding 
to, 
working at the scene of or returning from a fire call, a 
hazardous or toxic materials spill and cleanup or any other 
situation to which the fire department has been dispatched. 
c. 
"Volunteer firefighter" has the same meaning as in Title 
30-A. section 3151. 
2. 
Prohibition 
a~-.i1l&t discharge or disciplinary action. 
An employer may not discharge or take any other disciplinary 
action against an employee because of the employee's failure to 
£~rt for 
work 
at the 
beginning of 
the employee's 
regular 
working hours if the 
employee failed 
to 
do 
so 
because 
the 
employee 
was 
responding 
to 
an 
emergency 
in 
the 
employee's 
capacity as a volunteer firefighter. 
An employer may charge the 
lost time against the employee's 
regular payor against the 
employee's available leave time. 
This subsection does not apply 
to the absence of a volunteer firefighter from the volunteer 
firefighter's regular employment as a law enforcement officer. q 
utility worker or medical personnel when the services of that 
~rson are essential to p~ect public health or safety or if the 
employee 
has 
been 
designated 
as 
essential 
by 
the 
employer 
pursuant to subsection 6. 
3. 
liotificatiQJl: verification. 
If time permits. when an 
employee 
is 
responding 
as 
a 
volunteer 
firefighter 
to 
an 
emergency, 
the employee. 
the employee's designee or the fire 
department supervisor shall notify the employer that the employee 
will not report to work at the appointed time. 
At the request of 
an 
employer, 
an 
employee 
losing 
work 
time 
as 
provided 
in 
subsection 2 shall provide the employer with a statement from the 
. Page 1-LR2348(1) 
chief of the volunteer fire d~rtment stating that the employee 
was responding to an emergency call and the time of the call. 
4. 
Enforcement: penalty for violation. 
If an employer has 
yiolated subsection 2, 
the 
employee 
may bring an action in 
Superior Court in the county in which the employee resides or in 
the county in which the employer's place of business is located. 
The action must be brought within one year of the date of the 
alleged violation. 
If the court finds that the employer violated 
subsection 2, and if the employee so requests, the court shall 
order the employer to reinstate the employee in the employee's 
former position without reduction of pay, 
seniority or other 
benefits. The court also shall order any other appropriate remedy 
llit~e..s..sj~,ry to 
retu~~eJl!P.l.Qyee to the position 
t~JJlployee 
would have been in had the employer not violated subsection 2, 
including payment of back pay and reinstatement of any other 
benefits 
lost during 
the 
period 
in which 
the 
discharge 
or 
disciplinary action was in effect. 
5. 
Impact on individual agreements. 
This section does not 
apply if the employer 
and the employee have entered into 
a 
written agreement, signed by the employer and the employee, that 
governs procedures to be followed when the employee is called to 
respond 
to 
an 
emergency 
as 
a 
volunteer 
firefighter. 
This 
subsection applies only if: 
A. 
The local official in charge of calling out firefighters 
has a written policy that: 
(1) 
Specifies 
the 
circumstances 
under 
which 
firefighters will be ordered to remain at an emergency; 
and 
(2) 
Affirms that firefighters will be released as soon 
as practicable; and 
B. 
The 
employee presents 
a 
copy of 
~mployer upon 
notifying 
the 
employer 
status as a volunteer firefighter. 
the policy to the 
of 
the 
employee's 
6. 
Desi~ation as essential. 
Upon receiving notice of an 
employee's 
volunteer 
firefighter 
status, 
an 
employer 
may 
designate the employee essential to the employer's operations. 
SUMMARY 
This bill protects 
a 
volunteer 
firefighter 
from 
being 
discharged or disciplined by an employer on the grounds that the 
volunteer firefighter arrives late or does not arrive at work 
because the volunteer firefighter is responding to an emergency 
such as a fire, hazardous or toxic waste spill or other situation 
to which the fire department is called to respond. 
The bill 
allows written agreements between employers 
and 
employees 
to 
supersede the terms of the proposed law. 
The bill applies to 
employers 
with 
or 
more 
full-time-equivalent 
employees 
and 
allows an employer to designate an employee as "essential" and 
therefore not subject to the employment protections.