House Passes Andrews Amendment to Protect Volunteer First Responders

I am very pleased that the House adopted my proposal to provide volunteer first responders with job protection when they are called upon to respond to national emergencies. Currently, volunteer firefighters and EMTs are not protected from being fired or demoted by their employers if they miss work to respond to a major disaster.  We should not put our first responders in the position of having to choose between saving their jobs or saving lives. The House has taken an important step toward solving this problem.

The amendment provides up to 14 days per calendar year of job protection for volunteer emergency service personnel who respond to a Presidentially-declared disaster in an official capacity.  Any individual discriminated against in violation of the provision may seek redress in court. Under this plan, employers would not be required to compensate employees for time missed, and employees would be required to make a reasonable effort to notify their employers that they will miss work. Employees would also be required to continue to provide reasonable updates over the course of their absence.  The proposal covers only those emergency responders acting in an official capacity. First responders who “self-dispatch” would not be eligible for job protection and employers have the right to ask for documentation from the official supervising the response to verify that the employee was involved in an official capacity.

My amendment would reduce pressure on emergency managers who rely heavily on the availability and performance of the more than 800,000 volunteer first responders around the country. I am pleased that the House has passed this important proposal, and I urge my colleagues in the Senate do the same.

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