WHY IT MATTERS:
FIREFIGHTERS BILL OF RIGHTS

Standing up for your rights on the job is one of your unions’ core responsibilities. That includes when management tries to punish you for actions on the job.

For as long as there have been firefighters, discipline has been a source of conflict within the fire service.

Disciplinary proceedings were widely seen by firefighters as arbitrary, selectively enforced and used by management to punish them … especially if they are involved with the union.

Since 1976, police officers have had a “bill of rights” setting forth the circumstances under which police officers could be interrogated, their rights of representation and the confidentiality of the process. But for a long time, firefighters didn’t.

Not any more. After nearly a quarter century of work, and strong pushes from lcal unions including UFLAC Local 112, California firefighters won the most comprehensive Firefighters Bill of Rights in the nation.

The 2007 law signed by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, contained nearly two dozen separate workplace protections for firefighters – in some cases above and beyond those provided for law enforcement.

• Disciplinary interviews and proceedings would have to take place at reasonable hours and be recorded at the firefighter’s request;
• Firefighters could not be compelled to submit to a lie detector test and unreasonable searches would be forbidden;
• They would also have the right to inspect their employee records and file a response to any adverse action;
• Firefighters also won the right to immunity from criminal prosecution before answering potentially incriminating questions.

In the years that have followed, the Firefighters Bill of Rights has become a benchmark for protecting on-the-job employee rights – in some cases even stronger than the version for police officers.

Standing with every firefighter when they’re on the firing line.

The union is all of us.