[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1025 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1025

  To prohibit termination of employment of volunteer firefighters and 
    emergency medical personnel responding to emergencies or major 
                   disasters, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 12, 2009

Mr. Carper (for himself and Ms. Collins) introduced the following bill; 
     which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, 
                     Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To prohibit termination of employment of volunteer firefighters and 
    emergency medical personnel responding to emergencies or major 
                   disasters, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives 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. VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTER AND EMS PERSONNEL JOB PROTECTION.

    Title VII of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5201 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 
the following:

``SEC. 707. VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTER AND EMS PERSONNEL JOB PROTECTION.

    ``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Qualified volunteer fire department.--The term 
        `qualified volunteer fire department' has the meaning given 
        such term in section 150(e) of the Internal Revenue Code of 
        1986.
            ``(2) Volunteer emergency medical services.--The term 
        `volunteer emergency medical services' means emergency medical 
        services performed on a voluntary basis for a fire department 
        or other emergency organization.
            ``(3) Volunteer firefighter.--The term `volunteer 
        firefighter' means an individual who is a member in good 
        standing of a qualified volunteer fire department.
    ``(b) Termination of Employment of Volunteer Firefighters and 
Emergency Medical Personnel Prohibited.--
            ``(1) Termination prohibited.--No employee may be 
        terminated, demoted, or in any other manner discriminated 
        against in the terms and conditions of employment because such 
        employee is absent from or late to the employee's employment 
        for the purpose of serving as a volunteer firefighter or 
        providing volunteer emergency medical services as part of a 
        response to an emergency or major disaster.
            ``(2) Deployment.--The prohibition in paragraph (1) shall 
        apply to an employee serving as a volunteer firefighter or 
        providing volunteer emergency medical services if such 
        employee--
                    ``(A) is specifically deployed to respond to the 
                emergency or major disaster in accordance with a 
                coordinated national deployment system such as the 
                Emergency Management Assistance Compact or a pre-
                existing mutual aid agreement; or
                    ``(B) is a volunteer firefighter who--
                            ``(i) is a member of a qualified volunteer 
                        fire department that is located in the State in 
                        which the emergency or major disaster occurred;
                            ``(ii) is not a member of a qualified fire 
                        department that has a mutual aid agreement with 
                        a community affected by such emergency or major 
                        disaster; and
                            ``(iii) has been deployed by the emergency 
                        management agency of such State to respond to 
                        such emergency or major disaster.
            ``(3) Limitations.--The prohibition in paragraph (1) shall 
        not apply to an employee who--
                    ``(A) is absent from the employee's employment for 
                the purpose described in paragraph (1) for more than 14 
                days per calendar year;
                    ``(B) responds on the emergency or major disaster 
                without being officially deployed as described in 
                paragraph (2); or
                    ``(C) fails to provide the written verification 
                described in paragraph (5) within a reasonable period 
                of time.
            ``(4) Withholding of pay.--An employer may reduce an 
        employee's regular pay for any time that the employee is absent 
        from the employee's employment for the purpose described in 
        paragraph (1).
            ``(5) Verification.--An employer may require an employee to 
        provide a written verification from the official of the Federal 
        Emergency Management Agency supervising the Federal response to 
        the emergency or major disaster or a local or State official 
        managing the local or State response to the emergency or major 
        disaster that states--
                    ``(A) the employee responded to the emergency or 
                major disaster in an official capacity; and
                    ``(B) the schedule and dates of the employee's 
                participation in such response.
            ``(6) Reasonable notice required.--An employee who may be 
        absent from or late to the employee's employment for the 
        purpose described in paragraph (1) shall--
                    ``(A) make a reasonable effort to notify the 
                employee's employer of such absence; and
                    ``(B) continue to provide reasonable notifications 
                over the course of such absence.
    ``(c) Right of Action.--
            ``(1) Right of action.--An individual who has been 
        terminated, demoted, or in any other manner discriminated 
        against in the terms and conditions of employment in violation 
        of the prohibition described in subsection (b) may bring, in a 
        district court of the United States of appropriate 
        jurisdiction, a civil action against individual's employer 
        seeking--
                    ``(A) reinstatement of the individual's former 
                employment;
                    ``(B) payment of back wages;
                    ``(C) reinstatement of fringe benefits; and
                    ``(D) if the employment granted seniority rights, 
                reinstatement of seniority rights.
            ``(2) Limitation.--The individual shall commence a civil 
        action under this subsection not later than 1 year after the 
        date of the violation of the prohibition described in 
        subsection (b).''.

SEC. 3. STUDY AND REPORT.

    (a) Study.--The Secretary of Labor shall conduct a study on the 
impact that this Act could have on the employers of volunteer 
firefighters or individuals who provide volunteer emergency medical 
services and who may be called on to respond to an emergency or major 
disaster.
    (b) Report.--Not later than 12 months after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Labor shall submit to the 
appropriate congressional committees a report on the study conducted 
under subsection (a).
    (c) Appropriate Congressional Committees.--In this section, the 
term ``appropriate congressional committees'' means the Committee on 
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and the Committee on Small 
Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate and the Committee on 
Education and the Workforce and the Committee on Small Business of the 
House of Representatives.
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