A requirement that an employer permit an employee who is a volunteer fire fighter, emergency medical technician, first responder, or ambulance driver for a volunteer fire department or fire company, a public agency, or a nonprofit corporation to be late for or absent from work if the lateness or absence is due to the employee responding to an emergency that begins before the employee is required to report to work

1. By no later than 30 days after becoming a member of a volunteer fire department or becoming affiliated with an ambulance service provider, submits to the employer a written statement signed by the chief of the volunteer fire department or by the person in charge of the ambulance service provider notifying the employer that the employee is a volunteer fire fighter, emergency medical technician, first responder, or ambulance driver for a volunteer fire department or fire company, a public agency, or a nonprofit corporation.

2. When dispatched to an emergency, makes every effort to notify the employer that the employee may be late for or absent from work due to the employee's responding to the emergency or, if prior notification cannot be made due to the extreme circumstances of the emergency or the inability of the employee to contact the employer, submits to the employer a written statement from the chief of the volunteer fire department or from the person in charge of the ambulance service provider explaining why prior notification could not be made.

3. When late for or absent from work due to responding to an emergency, provides, on the request of the employer, a written statement from the chief of the volunteer fire department or from the person in charge of the ambulance service provider certifying that the employee was responding to an emergency at the time of the lateness or absence and indicating the date and time of the response to the emergency.

The bill prohibits an employer from interfering with, restraining, or denying the exercise of the right of an employee who is a fire fighter, emergency medical technician, first responder, or ambulance driver for a volunteer fire department or fire company, a public agency, or a nonprofit corporation to respond to an emergency as provided in the bill. The bill also prohibits an employer from discharging or discriminating against such an employee in promotion, in compensation, or in the terms, conditions, or privileges of employment for: 1) responding to an emergency as provided in the bill; 2) opposing a discharge or discrimination in violation of the bill; 3) filing a complaint or attempting to enforce a right under the bill; or 4) testifying or assisting in any action or proceeding to enforce a right under the bill.

An employee whose right to respond to an emergency as provided in the bill is interfered with, restrained, or denied or who is discharged or discriminated against in violation of the bill may file a complaint with the Department of Workforce Development (DWD), and DWD must process the complaint in the same manner that employment discrimination complaints are processed under current law. If DWD finds that an employer has interfered with, restrained, or denied the right of an employee to respond to an emergency as provided in the bill or has discharged or discriminated against an employee in violation of the bill, DWD may order the employer to take action to remedy the violation, including reinstating the employee, providing compensation in lieu of reinstatement, providing back pay accrued not more than two years before the complaint was filed, and paying reasonable actual costs and attorney fees to the complainant.