FS208: Legal Aspects of Emergency Services FS208 Legal Aspects of Emergency Service Chapter 13 & Chapter 14 Professor Thomas Luby

FS208: Legal Aspects of Emergency Services Chapter 13 Sexual Harassment and Other Forms of Employment Discrimination

Fire Station Work place vs. a “boys club” O’Rourke v. City of Providence ◦ The organizational culture of a fire department must come in line with the expectations of society firefighters need to be aware that seemingly random ◦ Acts or comments made years apart in different stations and on different shifts can be strung together to create a damaging indictment of an entire organization; and ◦ Fire service leaders need to act quickly and decisively when confronted with complaints about harassment. FS208: Legal Aspects of Emergency Services3

Pervasive Behavior Harassment / Teasing ◦ Shows friendship and camaraderie ◦ Subtle ways to exert peer pressure on non- conformists to become team players Non-conformist ◦ Minority or woman FS208: Legal Aspects of Emergency Services4

Quid pro quo Sexual Harassment Two main types of sexual harassment ◦ Quid pro quo  Translates literally as “this for that”  Occurs when the employee’s employment opportunities or benefits are granted or denied because of an individual’s submission to sexual advances or requests for sexual favors ◦ Hostile work environment  Unwelcome sexual conduct unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance or has the effect of creating an intimidating or offensive work environment. FS208: Legal Aspects of Emergency Services5

Sexual Harassment Johnson v. County of Los Angeles Fire Department ◦ A Captain for LA county FD challenged the depts. rule that no pornographic materials were permitted at the firehouse. He told the dept. it was a 1st amendment violation and the case ended up in federal court. Ruling: ◦ The judge sided with the Captain saying that his 1st amendment rights outweighed the fire depts. rules and that (even though 2 female FFs testified that people often commented loudly about the magazines and showed pictures to them unwittingly) the dept failed to prove that him reading the magazine alone, in private during rest hours created a hostile work environment (the basis on the depts. ban on the materials). FS208: Legal Aspects of Emergency Services6

Summary Sexual harassment claims have posed problems for the fire service as women have integrated into the mainstream fire service over the past 30 years. Sexual harassment is a form of sexual discrimination prohibited by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of There are two types of sexual harassment: quid pro quo, and hostile work environment. FS208: Legal Aspects of Emergency Services7

Chapter 14 Labor, Family Medical Leave, Residency, and Drug Testing

Federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) 1938 ◦ Address concerns over minimum wage, maximum hours, overtime, and child labor Until 1974, the FLSA applied only to private sector employers In 1974, Congress extended the minimum wage and maximum hours protections of the FLSA to state and local employers Does not include people who volunteer their ◦ services. FS208: Legal Aspects of Emergency Services9

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), 1993 Protect workers who need to take time off for certain family or personal medical conditions, without risking the loss of their jobs ◦ 12 weeks of unpaid leave each year for any of the following reasons:  the birth and care of the newborn child of an employee  the placement with the employee of a child for adoption or foster care  to care for an immediate family member (spouse, child, or parent) with a serious health condition  to take medical leave when the employee is unable to work because of a serious health condition FS208: Legal Aspects of Emergency Services10

Drug Testing Drug testing of public sector employees implicates a variety of concerns, including constitutional issues involving privacy and search and seizure; contractual issues involving labor relations; the Americans with Disabilities Act; and state law drug testing issues FS208: Legal Aspects of Emergency Services11

Summary Fair Labor Standards Act provides the minimum hourly wage and maximum hours that employees can work without being paid overtime, and specifies a variety of other work related matters, including child labor standards and rates for overtime compensation. Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) guarantees an employee up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year to deal with a personal or family medical problem without risk of losing his or her job. FS208: Legal Aspects of Emergency Services12