The Industrial Welfare Act (IWA) contains a number of provisions dealing with with wages, hours, and working conditions, including child labor, work apparel, and other matters. Under the IWA, an employer may not discharge from employment or discipline a volunteer firefighter because of leave taken related to an alarm of fire or an emergency call.
A volunteer firefighter may file a complaint for an alleged violation of these provisions with the Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) and L&I must investigate. If L&I determines the employer violated the provisions, a volunteer firefighter may bring an action against the employer for reinstatement or withdrawal of the disciplinary action, including back pay.
For the purposes of the IWA protections, a volunteer firefighter is a firefighter who:
The protections under the IWA for volunteer firefighters only applies to employers with 20 or more full-time equivalent employees in the previous year.
The definition of volunteer firefighter is changed for the purposes of the protections under the IWA.
A volunteer firefighter is a firefighter covered under the Volunteer Firefighters' and Reserve Officers' Pension and Relief System who:
Provisions requiring a firefighter to be unpaid and not already at their place of employment are removed.
A volunteer firefighter may be working at the direction of a firefighting or emergency response unit of a city, county, fire district, regional fire protection district, port district, or the state, rather than only a fire protection district.
A separate requirement for a volunteer firefighter at their place of employment when called to serve as a volunteer is added. The section pertaining to state agencies is removed.
The committee recommended a different version of the bill than what was heard. PRO: During the wildfires last year, volunteer firefighters could not leave their places of employment to help fight fires because of restrictions by employers. The bill will allow volunteer firefighters to leave to fight fires. Some employers voluntarily let firefighters leave, and other employers and state agencies should as well. The bill will help attract more volunteer firefighters.
OTHER: Volunteer firefighters should be allowed to go fight fires even if they have another job. Some technical changes are needed to help the Department of Labor and Industries enforce the statute, including defining some terms.