How did the LICH EMTs get fired ?

[emt seeking first job]

OK. Contrast the FDNY emts...I guess they have a union.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/jest_pains_emts_axed_for_on_job_TRVYaGLrJ5v8rA7VBYAE0N

These guys, goofing on a chat room during down time get FIRED !!!

WTF?

This is a situation for strong discipline, but not firing.

Patient care was not affected...?

Am I missing something?

I also realize NYC politics too, had white EMTs ignored a black woman, there would be hell to pay....

Granted, they were idiots for goofing online, but it could have been handled with discipline....not firing.

And the FDNY dispatchers walk away from a dying woman, and nothing....?


wtf?

 

[akflightmedic]

You can not compare two different employer's responses to two different situations.

 

[Aidey]

^^^Exactly, especially considering we have no idea what their policies are. I know my company has policies about what you can and can't post/say online. Plus there is the possibility the one was texting and driving...another big no-no that there is usually a policy against.

 

[emt seeking first job]

According to all accounts, they were parked on the side of the road.

This did not affect patient care.

I believe they should have been disciplined severely but not FIRED.....

Let the punishment fit the crime.

 

[akflightmedic]

According to all accounts, they were parked on the side of the road.

This did not affect patient care.

I believe they should have been disciplined severely but not FIRED.....

Let the punishment fit the crime.

Quite possibly the punishment DID fit the crime. Since you do not know what their company rules are and what they do and do not allow, you can not assume they were punished outside of published guidelines which by accepting and continuing employment they are agreeing they have read, understand and will abide by them.

In addition, the company could be following a progressive discipline policy...these two may have been in trouble previously and this was the last step.

Make sense? In other words, you are barking up the wrong tree most likely.

 

[firecoins]

which FDNY EMTs?

The off duty FDNY EMT/Dispatchers who "ignored" a pregnant woman haning an asthma attack?

What do these situations have anything to with each other. I don't see the connection at all.

 

[emt seeking first job]

Yes, I understand your point.

They may have been previously warned.

There may be a policy in place over use of personal computer while on duty, standby.

I will make an educated guess and assume there was not.

It is just IMHO, had some administrator been doing the same thing in the office, there would not have been such a harsh sanction.

According to all accounts, the two EMTs were very above satisfactory in their clinical skills.

 

[Sassafras]

Why are we using company vehicles to act like a bunch of "goofballs" (i'd have used another word to denote this behavior). I'd have been fired from my job as a secretary for using a chat room at all during work. Shoot, they even monitored our emails randomly. I think people have gotten way too lax in their professionalism since the onslaught of smart phones and lap tops and easy access to the internet. It seems our personal lives overlap our professional lives and that has a tendancy to breed this sort of inappropriate behavior. If they were home, off the clock, out of uniform doing this it would be different, but if I get caught in any of my work uniforms be they EMT or McDonalds doing something my company deems inappropriate while on the clock I'd be in risk of termination. It states it in my "contract" (ie. that stack of papers you sign at orientation). What these EMTs did is really no different and although I feel bad for them and hope they can find employment elsewhere soon, I also hope they have learned a lesson in that their professional and personal lives need to be kept more separate.

 

[8jimi8]

there is something to be said about allowing yourself to take a mental break when you work a stressful job.

I posit, that as long as your work is done, your down time is down time.

 

[lampnyter]

I think what they did was pretty stupid but no where near bad enough to be fired. Maybe if they were new on the job, then thats a different story. I dont think it was fair to be fired.

 

[emt seeking first job]

I am making an educated guess that what they did was not specifically addressed in the rules.

From now on, organizations should specifically state in orientation no video chat rooms or chat rooms not professionaly related (ex EMS forums) and that rule should be initialed.

IMHO, they should not have lost their jobs over it. There was no overt sexual activity or exposure of any kind.

 

[DrParasite]

http://www.ems1.com/technology/arti...r-Facebook-10-ways-to-use-social-media-safely

 

[46Young]

FDNY EMS has a union who negotiated a contract that specifies what you can be fired for and what you cannot. It can't be changed until the next contract is ironed out. They don't pay too well, but the benefits, job security, and retirement trump whatever the hospitals are offering.

The hospitals offer better working conditions, salary, and schedules, with the ability to tailor the schedule to school, child care, etc. Some are union, many are not. These hospitals are run like businesses, and are very image conscious. They can also be quite militant regarding conduct on duty.

That's the trade off. You're being paid better than FDNY, with a more pleasureable work environment, and the job is also more friendly for family and education obligations. Since you're being given that, they ask much more from the employee than FDNY EMS does. You're held to a much higher standard. Discipline will be according to that health system's HR policies. I worked for one such hospital for five years. NS-LIJ was known to be one of the more militant hospitals regarding appearance, conduct, QA/QI, onscene and drop off times, etc. You fart and they write you up. The thing is, you have many from FDNY EMS who look to go FT at a hospital, having grown tired of the FDNY nonsense and drama. Some just want to go back to school to get out of the field, which is exceedingly difficult to do at FDNY. Many others also apply to the hospitals instead of FDNY.

The high amount of qualified applicants for these hospitals allows for strict policies towards their employees. The high pay and desireable working conditions exist to compete with the Local 2507's contract that provides their benefits and retirement.

 

[Sassafras]

there is something to be said about allowing yourself to take a mental break when you work a stressful job.

I posit, that as long as your work is done, your down time is down time.

Down time is down time but when you are on the clock it's not a time to act unprofessional in public (which is what a chat room is). I've worked other stressful jobs (some of which were more stressful than what I do in EMS) and would have been fired for what they did. Shoot I was almost fired over playing solitaire on my lunch break on the company computer so I kind of think this was a bit more severe than a lunch break solitaire episode (which I wasn't getting paid for btw at least I get paid lunch breaks in EMS LOL).

 

[ffemt8978]

I am making an educated guess that what they did was not specifically addressed in the rules.

From now on, organizations should specifically state in orientation no video chat rooms or chat rooms not professionaly related (ex EMS forums) and that rule should be initialed.

IMHO, they should not have lost their jobs over it. There was no overt sexual activity or exposure of any kind.

What part wasn't addressed? Let's take a look at this paragraph from the article you posted:

The pair had goofed around in their gas masks and flirted with girls in online chat rooms inside their ambulance between 911 emergency assignments -- and posted photos of it online -- before getting fired for their capers.

Now I don't know what that company's specific policies are, but in that paragraph alone I can count 3 potential violations of what I consider to be typical company policies depending upon how they accessed the chat room in question.

1) Misuse of PPE/safety equipment
2) Unauthorized use of the computer (**assuming they were using a rig/company laptop and not a personal computer)
3) Conduct that brings discredit to the agency, especially if they were in uniform.

My "educated guess" is that the company thought the violations were serious enough to terminate them for it. Considering that NY state is an "employment at will" state, the employer really didn't need a reason to fire them as long as they didn't violate a law in doing so.

 

[akflightmedic]

And until this article, I had never heard of chatroulette which is the site they were using. I went on there and within seconds I was bombarded with sex, so whoever said "it was just a chat room" think again.

Think webcams, think roultette wheel and imagine "next"button and that is the site. You bounce from camera to camera and anything and everything is on there.

 

[ZVNEMT]

And until this article, I had never heard of chatroulette which is the site they were using. I went on there and within seconds I was bombarded with sex, so whoever said "it was just a chat room" think again.

Think webcams, think roultette wheel and imagine "next"button and that is the site. You bounce from camera to camera and anything and everything is on there.

i just now checked out that site... and i see a fat bald guy sitting in a chair.... and then i realized it was just me.... i didnt know i have a webcam? :unsure:

 

[akflightmedic]

i just now checked out that site... and i see a fat bald guy sitting in a chair.... and then i realized it was just me.... i didnt know i have a webcam? :unsure:

I was careful not to mention what kind of sex but I assure you none of it is that appealing, at least not to my personal gender preference.