March 2019 – Page 2 – Firefly Admin Inc.

VESTING

March 15, 2019

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines vesting as follows: the conveying to an employee of inalienable rights to money contributed by an employer to a pension fund or retirement plan especially in the event of termination of employment prior to the normal retirement age The term “vest” or “vesting” does not appear in Article 11-A. Instead, it…

ELECTED AND APPOINTED POSITIONS

March 14, 2019

We were asked recently about officer positions, and eligibility of points. In this particular fire department, there are five fire companies. In addition, there is a “rescue squad”, the membership of which is comprised of members of the five fire companies. The rescue squad is responsible for rescue operations – cutting cars, and similar type…

WHAT TO DO WITH A MINI-DRILL?

March 13, 2019

A short one today (pun intended)…. A question came in regarding a “mini-drill” – meaning, a drill that is less than two hours. The two-hour requirement is in the statute, which is written as follows: Drills—twenty points maximum. One point per drill (minimum two hour drill). Therefore, in order for the skills practice event to…

CAN POINTS BE AWARDED FOR JOB TRAINING?

March 12, 2019

We recently received the following question: A member is an employee for a municipal EMS entity and attends that entity’s EMS related training courses of 4 to 8 hours each and receives an acceptable certificate of completion. The employee is paid while taking the course by the employer. The member then submits the certificates with a…

AWARDING POINTS FOR BEING A DELEGATE

March 11, 2019

A question came in today about points for serving as a convention delegate. Here is the applicable section of § 217: There are several things to note about sub-section (B): 1) The active volunteer firefighter must be elected. The statute doesn’t state how that election takes place, but presumably the membership of the company would elect the…

DETERMINING THE NUMBER OF CALLS NEEDED TO EARN 25 POINTS PART 2 – READING THE CHART

March 8, 2019

Yesterday we looked at how to round properly to ensure the software is determining the correct number of calls a volunteer must respond to earn 25 points. Today, we’ll focus on how to actually read the chart. As a reminder, here is the chart from the state law: I added the horizontal lines for readability.…

Determining the Number of Calls Needed to Earn 25 Points Part 1 – Proper Rounding

March 7, 2019

Under the New York State LOSAP Point System, a volunteer earns 25 points for attending a minimum percentage of the total fire calls for the year. Depending on the services provided by the fire department, it may also be possible for a volunteer to earn another 25 points for attending a minimum percentage of ambulance…

CHANGES TO SERVICE CREDIT AFTER THE 30-DAY POSTING PERIOD

March 6, 2019

A frequent question I’ve received over the years is about making changes to the points and service credit after the 30-day posting period is complete. You know the story – someone doesn’t pay attention to the posted points and then when the person receives their participant statements, notices he/she was not credited with 50 points…

LOSAP POINTS – 30 DAY APPEAL PROCESS

March 5, 2019

New York State Law requires that after the municipal board approves the certified list of firefighters that have qualified for service credit during the previous year, the list must be returned to the fire company to be posted for at least 30 days for review by members. During the 30-day period, a firefighter who was…

LOSAP POINTS – WHEN SHOULD THEY BE POSTED?

March 4, 2019

On Friday we tackled the concept that in New York State, the municipal sponsor must approve the annual listing of firefighters that earned service credit (50 points) during the year. This brings us to one of the more frequently misunderstood portions the statute. Here is §219-a(d) of the New York State General Municipal Law: (d) The…

Month: March 2019