Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Salute or Wave - Leads to Suspension

A Cleveland firefighter was given a six-month suspension from the Cleveland Firefighters Memorial Pipes and Drum Corp for giving President Barack Obama a nod and wave during last week's inaugural parade in Washington, D.C. The case raises some interesting questions about the rights of public organizations to enforce reasonable uniform and decorum requirements versus the first amendment rights of public employees. Click here for more.


Chapter 14 in FOLH addresses this thorny issue.

1/28/09 - here's a followup story from CNN

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Manslaughter Trial for FDNY Black Sunday Deaths

The deaths of two FDNY firefighters and severe injuries to seveal others on January 23, 2005 is the subject of a crimical trail against two tenants and the owners of the apartment building where the fire occurred. The prosecution alleged that the defendants illegally subdividing apartments in the building, and thereby contributed to the deaths and injuries through their reckless and/or criminally negligent behavior. The defendants are chanrged with two counts of second degree manslaughter, two counts of criminally negligent homicide and one count of reckless endangerment.

Key to the case will be the mental states of the defenmdants. Did their conduct constitute reckless behavior? Was it criminally negligent behavior? Chapter 5 of FOLH and Legal Considerations addresses this difficult area of the law.



http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/06/nyregion/06fire.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion


Update: http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/ny-nyfire0130%2C0%2C6424922.story

Can City Use Retirees?

The Omaha Firefighter's Union recently dropped a law suit against the cityof Omaha, challenging the city's use of retired firefighters as part-time fire investigators. The union alleged that the practice violated the collective bargaining agreement, and deprived union members of work and pay.

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10530798