Volunteer Firefighter Service Leave : 5.01.01.19

Policy/Guideline

1. Volunteer Firefighter Service Leave
   1. In accordance with T.C.A. § 50-1-309, a regular employee who is an active volunteer firefighter may be permitted to leave work in order to respond to fire calls during such employee’s regular hours of employment without loss of pay, vacation time, sick leave, or earned overtime accumulation.
      1. Such employee may be permitted to take off the next scheduled work period within twelve (12) hours following such response as an annual leave or sick leave day without loss of pay if the employee assisted in fighting such fire for more than four (4) hours.
      2. If the employee is not entitled to an annual leave or sick leave day then such employee may be permitted to take off such work period without pay.
   2. In addition, any employee who is an active volunteer firefighter and who worked for more than four (4) hours the prior day or night as a volunteer firefighter in an emergency may be permitted to take off the next scheduled work period within twelve (12) hours following such emergency as an annual leave or sick leave day without the loss of pay.
      1. If the employee is not entitled to an annual leave or sick leave day then such employee may be permitted to take off such work period without pay.
   3. The employer may require the employee to submit a written statement from the chief of the volunteer fire department verifying that such employee responded to a fire or was on-call and specifying the date, time and duration of such response.