Once again obummercare is biting us in the ass…
And I find it interesting that there is almost NO US media coverage…
Volunteer fire departments all across the U.S. could find themselves out of money and unable to operate unless Congress or the Obama Administration exempts them from the Affordable Care Act.
‘I thought the kinks were worked out of Obamacare at the first of the month, Central Florida volunteer firefighter Carl Fabrizi told Sunshine State News.
‘Man, oh, man, this could potentially destroy some real good companies in Florida.’
The U.S. Department of Labor takes the term ‘volunteer’ literally, but the IRS says volunteer firefighters are technically employees if they’re on the job more than 30 hours per week, making them subject to Obamacare’s employee-mandate rules.
Full article HERE from the Daily Mail.
Having been a volunteer in Florida for the 10 years I was there, this will KILL most of the rural fire departments in the state, as 90% of them are volunteer.
And in NOVA and MD around the beltway there are large volunteer departments that provide ‘major’ services, including hook/ladder, ALS ambulance care, etc. So expect your home insurance to go through the roof, as they remap the distances if all these volunteer stations have to close…
It figures that the ACA (what a freakin’ joke that name is) makes employees out of unpaid volunteers.
On the other hand, many volunteer firefighters (I was one, too) don’t even approach 30 hrs/wk under normal circumstances.
Just gets worse, doesn’t it?
The Professional Firefighters Union was a big supporter of Teh 0ne. Guess this is payback. All those volunteer stations will now need professionals.
Rev- I know in Florida we had ‘weeks’ where 30 hours was not unusual for volunteers…
WSF- That it does!
Stretch- Good point!
Isn’t it interesting that the Daily Mail is becoming the “paper” we have to go to for news of what’s going on here?
So according to the IRS people who don’t get paid but work anyway are employees?
That’s the opposite of most government employees. They get paid but don’t work…
This IS one of those Laws you posted about earlier, right?
PH- Yep, truly scary… same with TV news… BBC/Sky MUCH better than the ‘big 3’…
Tim- Ain’t it though…
I’ve been on my local fire dept. Since 1993 two years as a jr.firefighter was certified by the time I turned 18 and had e.m.t. done by 19 logged about 600 hrs training by 21
The difference between a true volunteer and a volunteer employee is that if the dept provides you any gear (lights sirens bunker gear) you are considered an employee (good set of turnout gear runs about $1500) if you buy all your own gear as part of dept policy you are an all volunteer dept
J.d.- Understood, but I ‘doubt’ that anyone in power actually knows enough to make that determination… We would have all been considered employees, as the State furnished our turnout gear and pagers.
Sadly PH the America media(spit) are Obamabots
Although not mentioned in the article, I expect that this will also apply to volunteer EMS services. Interestingly, a lot of the areas covered by VFDs are also covered by VAS. Also interestingly a lot of those areas didn’t go for Obama in 2008 or 20012. Coincidence, I’m sure.