You are never off-duty

[jack10562 414]

BY Jonathan Lemire

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

An off-duty firefighter was busted for drunken driving after he got into a shouting match with another driver on the upper West Side early Saturday, police said.

Read more: http://www.nydailyne...l#ixzz15wNX0sMJ

This story would normally go against our rules on posting articles about members of uniformed services getting into trouble outside of their employment.

Here I want to point out that this guy got suspended from his job for a month based on a CHARGE of driving while intoxicated while off duty, on his own time.

Keeping in mind that an individual is generally considered innocent until proven guilty, this fellow has been convicted by his employer, the FDNY, and sentenced to thirty days suspension with no pay without even so much as a hearing.

I think this goes to show that you can be held responsible for your actions outside of your employment, and that there is a level of personal accountability in your daily life that reflects on and can have a significant impact to your livelihood.

[CBX4627 114]

Read more: http://www.nydailyne...l#ixzz15wNX0sMJ

This story would normally go against our rules on posting articles about members of uniformed services getting into trouble outside of their employment.

Here I want to point out that this guy got suspended from his job for a month based on a CHARGE of driving while intoxicated while off duty, on his own time.

Keeping in mind that an individual is generally considered innocent until proven guilty, this fellow has been convicted by his employer, the FDNY, and sentenced to thirty days suspension with no pay without even so much as a hearing.

I think this goes to show that you can be held responsible for your actions outside of your employment, and that there is a level of personal accountability in your daily life that reflects on and can have a significant impact to your livelihood.

Welcome to the FDNY where you're Guilty until proven INNOCENT!

[Bnechis 3,961]

Read more: http://www.nydailyne...l#ixzz15wNX0sMJ Here I want to point out that this guy got suspended from his job for a month based on a CHARGE of driving while intoxicated while off duty, on his own time.

Keeping in mind that an individual is generally considered innocent until proven guilty, this fellow has been convicted by his employer, the FDNY, and sentenced to thirty days suspension with no pay without even so much as a hearing.

The question is was he suspended for drunk driving or more likely he was suspended for "conduct unbecoming" which is based strictly on the fact that he was "arrested" by definition that maybe "conduct unbecoming"

[JetPhoto 626]

My only question is if this guy is proven innocent in a court of law can he challenge FDNY (or whatever employer) to clear his record of that and get his money he would have earned?

[grumpyff 1,159]

All city agencies are like this. If it was NYPD he would still have to face a department trial as well. Possible punishments..dismissal from the department, loss of vacation days, probation or a combination of the last two...the so called thirty and a year. thirty day suspension without pay or benefits and a year of dismisssl probation. For the alcohol related offenses the can 'ask' (basically you can't deny it) to sign an agreement where the department can randomly give you a breathalyzer test at any time..on duty or off.

[Bnechis 3,961]

My only question is if this guy is proven innocent in a court of law can he challenge FDNY (or whatever employer) to clear his record of that and get his money he would have earned?

Generally there needs to be a hearing by the employeer. If he is proven not guilt in court of the DWI, he still may not win the hearing if he was charged with conduct unbecomming, unless he can prove that the arrest was not warrented. i.e. he should not have been arrest in the 1st place, therefore his behavior was not conduct unbecoming.

Very difficult to beat this part of the charge.

The reason the charge is conduct unbecoming is because of the way the media portrays it......"Firefighter Arrested" not Joe from NY.

[INIT915 1,119]

The rules that govern the "30 days" are not a departmental issue. That aspect is governed by State Civil Service law.

[Guest jcnyc]

You can get the money back, but it isn't easy. I know of a few guys who got it back. It is complete BS that you are convicted at work before in a court of law.

[jack10562 414]

I'm going to take a wild guess here, that after he calmed down a little bit he attempted to parlay the fact that he was "on-the-job-@-FDNY" in an effort to make the incident go away, and it didn't quite work out as planned. They busted him just the same and now in fact, the hot water only got hotter because of the failed courtesy ploy.

[wraftery 1,275]

I just read the article. I would say that a lot more happened than is stated by the article.