What do you think?

[E40FDNYL35]

"The truth of the matter is, you're never off duty," the mayor added. "You always represent those you work with."

NYC MayorBloomberg


What do you think?

[DeputyChiefGonzo]

Originally posted by E40FDNYL35
"The truth of the matter is, you're never off duty," the mayor added. "You always represent those you work with."

NYC MayorBloomberg


What do you think?

Well..part of the statement is true...we are what we are..on the other hand..if we are never off duty..then we are owed a boatload of overtime!

[ullrichk]

I'd say it applies to more than just firefighters.

What was the context?

[E40FDNYL35]

Off Duty member DWI. (he was on vacation in another state) Young member 2 years on made a mistake and our commissioner what's him fired. This comes from all the BS with the press and our Mayors statement. In this kids case no one was hurt and no property damage.

[Bikefire]

Dose the mayor believe he, and all his other political cronies should be held to the same high standards?

Don't get me wrong. DWI is a serious offense, at home or on vacation. I've been hit twice by those ***** holes. He should pay the penalty as any one else would. BUT, he should not be punished at work for anything more then what the current FDNY SOP/SOGs are.

Is their a clause in their SOP/SOGs, that all FDNY personal must maintain a drivers license at all times?

[Bones42]

E40, is there some type of oath that all new recruits take when they get hired? Is there a link to it somewhere that I could see it? Curious as to what it says.

For the record, I am volunteer and have had a member or two get DWI's. I can't fathom how they could do such a thing, but that's another point. We did not drop them from membership, we did not even suspend them. They did lose truck driving priviliges though. I don't agree with trying to get the guy fired, unless it is in the rule book somewhere.

Bikefire, a politician is never off-duty, they lie 24x7.

[fdnyvet]

In a way the Mayor is right. We are never really off duty because of our recall procedures. But I dont know if he meant it in that context. I know that if you get arrested or in trouble off duty it always makes the paper and gives us a black eye. Which sucks. So in reality, we are always affiliated with our job. But on the other hand, what we do on our off time should be our own business, not the city's. That should account for something. It should not be a reason for firing.

[MEck51]

As already posted, the statment does hold some truth. I hate to see guys in "job" shirts out and about acting like buttheads brining disgrace to the people they are associating themselves with while wearing the shirt. Also in many places more people will know who you are or what you do than you might think. I feel that drinking and driving is something that should not taken lightly, not to say that I haven't done it before or I am above being judged for that. That being said I can see no grounds for anything more than is written in FD and city handbooks. Now if it is written somewhere that a DUI is grounds for termination than maybe the person involved should have used better judgement. I feel that counseling and a probation period would be a better route to go, but than again I'm no politician trying to crucify someone to make myself look better. It realy is a touchy situation, if I recall right a Philadelphia big wig with the transit authority recently got a DUI in a company car. Have not heard a thing about it since the intial incident I'm not suggesting favoritism however it would be interesting to see the final outcome, I have a pretty good idea what it would be if he was a lower level civil servant.

[Bones42]

what we do on our off time should be our own business, not the city's

or the unions? (sorry, had to throw that in)

[ADSNWFLD]

It all depends on the rules of the department. We have to maintain a DL. To my knowledge a guy would not be able to work until his license was back, but he wouldn't get fired if it was the first time.
It does look bad for us, how many fatal DUI mvc's do we go to? We should know better.

In your case has anyone with two years on been arrested for DUI? if he didn't get canned then the union should fight for him because a precedence has been set.

[E74A]

Originally posted by E40FDNYL35
Off Duty member DWI. (he was on vacation in another state) Young member 2 years on made a mistake and our commissioner what's him fired. This comes from all the BS with the press and our Mayors statement. In this kids case no one was hurt and no property damage.

Do you guys have a drug and alcohol policy? Is there any mention in it, or in your contract, for helping the individual with the problem? Politicians are usually pretty good about giving lip service to wanting to help us, but when it comes time to take action, they think nobody heard or remembers what they said.

We don't have the rank of engineer in our department, so everyone is trained to drive and pump, even though some of us haven't driven in years, except for drills. But we're all *insured* to drive, so if anyone has anything happen (such as a DUI) that would cause our insurance premium to go up (and a DUI conviction even off-duty will do this) they base their retaliation on their having to pay the higher cost of insurance.

Do you guys have any sort of 'morals clause' anywhere that specifically lays out what is acceptable behavior and what's not?

I'm just tossing a few things out for you to think about.

[Smoke20286]

When I joined the job I had to sign a certificate that said that I was an officer of the crown (or queen I cant remember which) An as such was to consider myself always on duty etc. etc. Seems a bit archaic, but I see the Mayor's point to people who know you, you do represent the community, on or off duty.

[Firefighter164]

To go along with MEck51 I think that your always representing your department, and should always act as though u are on duty. And if you are wearing your "job shirt" or uniform dont make an *** of your self....lol