| Letter to Chief Plaugher
- Re: Age Requirements
Letter from Our President to Chief Plaugher
Topic: Age Requirements
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July 25, 2002
Edward P. Plaugher, Fire Chief
2100 Clarendon Blvd., Suite 400
Arlington, Va. 22201
Dear Chief Plaugher,
Pursuant to our meeting on June 21, 2002 I would like to
state the APFPA desire for implementing a change in the hiring
practice for the Fire Department. This position is not intended
to disparage any current Arlington County employee in any
way. This is a recommendation for future hiring practices.
All aspects of the recommendation are intended solely for
future hires. I believe establishing a maximum hire age of
32 years old and a mandatory retirement age of 60 years old
is in the best interests of the citizens of Arlington County
and Fire Department personnel. I also believe such a policy
is legally defensible as described in the attached legal opinion
prepared by our legal counsel of Woodley and McGillivary.
You had indicated your concurrence with our position. Therefore,
I am copying this letter to the County Manager, Human Resources
and County Attorney's offices so they may conduct whatever
review they deem necessary in contemplating this change.
A critical element for any Fire Department is to have senior
leadership. For the purposes of this discussion, "senior"
means 20, 25 or more years of service. Employees hired at
40-50 years of age will not be able to fulfill a full career
due to the extreme physical demands of this job and will thereby
never be able to provide much needed senior leadership. The
APFPA has indicated in previous discussions our displeasure
with the practice of providing eligibility for promotional
tests to relatively new employees. We continue to disagree
with the current practices in that area. The reason for this
is that it takes many years for firefighters to develop the
"street savvy" that is necessary to perform at a
high level in those supervisory positions. It is also imperative
that there are senior firefighters to mentor new employees.
Again, it takes many years of experience for a firefighter
to develop to that point. A system which lends itself to firefighters
and paramedics working for 10-15 years and leaving is a recipe
for disaster. The hiring practices for the Fire Department
should provide every newly hired firefighter the potential
to work a full career (25 years) and spend 3 years in the
DROP plan. This equates to 28 years. Simply stated, this is
physically impossible for employees hired at older ages. Thus
we recommend a maximum hire age of 32 and a mandatory retirement
age of 60, physical demands of providing fire and EMS services
are extensive. Good physical training programs and health
smart initiatives are imperative. However, as people age,
they will eventually reach a point at which they are no longer
able to safely perform the full range of duties required of
firefighters. Attached are two pages from the NFPA 2001 firefighter
line-of-duty death report. This report reveals that firefighters
greater than the age of 50 die from service connected reasons
at twice the rate of other firefighters and that firefighters
above the age of 60 die at four times that rate. With no mandatory
retirement age, the potential exists for an employee to endanger
their coworkers and citizens as a result of their inability
to physically perform their jobs. Older employees (for the
sake of this discussion "older" means 60 years old)
attempting to perform the strenuous requirements for firefighters
will inevitably become more susceptible to physical injuries
and diseases resulting in increased liabilities for the Arlington
County Worker's Compensation office. In addition to the Worker's
Compensation implications, this could also represent an increased
liability for the retirement system since these employees
will have contributed for a relatively short period of time
and subsequently retire under service connected disability
provisions.
This recommendation is made in the best interests of Arlington
County's citizens and public safety employees. I understand
other public safety employees share the exemption to the Age
Discrimination in Employment Act. Certainly a decision will
need to be made respective to those departments. However,
I would not portray myself as a spokesperson for any of those
employee groups. Only they can determine the level of risk
this situation creates for them. I am certain this is a prudent
direction for the Fire Department.
If there is any other information I can provide, please let
me know as soon as possible. I look forward to a response
to this most important issue.
Sincerely,
Mike Staples, President
CC: Ron Carlee, County Manager
Jill Neuville, Human Resources Director
Jeff Fagan, County Attorney's office James Schwartz, Assistant
Chief, Fire Operations
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