REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
February 26, 2015
FROM: JEFF CARDELL, Director
Personnel Services Department
BY: KEN PHILLIPS, Labor Relations Manager
Personnel Services Department
SUBJECT
Title
***Adopt a Side Letter of Agreement between the City and the International Association of Fire Fighters, Local 753 - Unit 5, Non-Management Fire regarding the accelerant detection canine assignment
Body
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that Council approve the attached Side Letter of Agreement on Firefighter compensation for the care and feeding of a canine trained in accelerant detection for City employees in Unit 5, represented by the International Association of Fire Fighters, Local 753 ("Fire Basic").
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Through the City's participation in the Fresno County Fire Investigative Strike Team ("FIST"), the Fire Department has accepted an accelerant detection canine. The care and feeding of the canine will be provided by a firefighter specially assigned to the Fire Investigations Unit, which includes housing the dog at home after work and otherwise providing for the care and feeding of the dog. The Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") requires that employee time spent in such care be compensated. The compensation provided for such care has been negotiated with Fire Basic. The attached side letter was accordingly agreed to with Fire Basic representatives for this special assignment.
BACKGROUND
FIST is a regionalized non-profit organization made up of fire investigators who provide consultation and resources to its members. The members include fire investigation units from the Fresno, Clovis, Coalinga, Kingsburg, Sanger and Selma Fire Departments, in addition to the Fresno County Fire Protection District.
Part of the services FIST provides includes the use of an ignitable liquid detection canine. The dog's job is to sniff out fire scenes to find ignitable liquids when they are used to ignite a fire. A trained dog'...
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