City employees have criticized a policy developed by the city’s Administration in response to a request from two firefighters to assist in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

The city’s police officers and firefighters have argued that the policy makes it almost impossible for them to assist in disaster relief.

The City Council approved the policy unanimously and without comment Monday night.

The new policy, which was distributed to employees last week, allows for an up-to-30-day unpaid emergency leave of absence to assist in emergency situations.

In order to qualify for the leave under the new policy, an employee must first use up any earned vacation, holiday or sick leave before the emergency leave is granted. The employee would not be considered a city employee while on the leave and would not be covered by the city’s workers compensation insurance, although the employee would still continue to be covered by the city’s regular health insurance.

“This policy provides employees with reasonable flexibility to volunteer for emergency situations while allowing the city to maintain necessary staffing levels and control potential liability exposure,” Bryant said.

Westbrook Police Detective John Desjardins said he didn’t think the policy provided any flexibility to volunteer in an emergency situation. “I don’t think the policy as written is going to encourage people to help with the relief effort given the fact they need to use their accrued leave time,” he said. “If the city were dedicated to helping with the relief effort, they would cover the employee.”

The new policy came about in part due to a request from Westbrook firefighters Kathy Reynolds and James Rogers to respond to a call from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for 1,000 two-person firefighter teams to volunteer to help the victims of the hurricane in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama.

Upon learning of the request, Rogers and Reynolds submitted their applications to Fire Chief Gary Littlefield. Because the city did not have a written policy covering this request, Littlefield did not immediately submit the applications to the federal agency and instead brought the request to the city administration to come up with a policy.

Reynolds who is engaged to Rogers, is the same firefighter with whom the Maine Human Rights Commission sided in her sexual discrimination complaints. She said she felt the city dragged its feet when it came to hers and Rogers’ application. “They waited until the slots were all filled and then they came out with the policy,” she said.

On Tuesday afternoon, Federal Emergency Management Agency Public Affairs Officer Len DeCarlo confirmed that all the spots in the program were filled.

Littlefield said there was no relation between Reynolds’ past problems with the department and the way the city handled the request from her and Rogers. “Absolutely not,” he said.

Because the new policy requires employees to take the leave on their own time and would not be sponsored by the city, Reynolds believes the city’s policy would block her from applying for the federal program, which requires anyone responding to be sponsored by a community or an agency.

DeCarlo said the request for aid was put out with the intention that firefighters be sponsored by their respective departments. “They shouldn’t have to take vacation time,” he said. “They should be released by their employer to go down there.”

Reynolds said even if she were willing to take 30 days and go down on her own time, she would not be allowed to help in the relief effort becuase she was not sponsored by the city. “You can’t self-dispatch,” she said. “We just can’t show up down there. You have to be sponsored by somebody.”

Westbrook Dispatcher Laurie St.Jock also took the city to task for what she saw as a lack of compassion by the city in a letter to the American Journal. “Has the city of Westbrook offered anything to help the Gulf Coast relief fund?” asked St. Jock. “This would have been the perfect opportunity show that we cared even if it was only two firefighters.”

While the federal agency would be taking care of the firefighters’ salaries while they are on assignment, the agency would not provide worker’s compensation insurance for volunteers. Littlefield said the agency would also not be compensating the city for the cost of any employee’s health benefits; the city would still be responsible for those.

Other departments in the area have responded to the federal agency’s request. Last week, South Portland Fire Chief Kevin Guimond said his department had submitted applications for four firefighters to respond the agency’s request. He said the department processed the applications to get them into the agency as quickly as possible, and the city and the department would work on the details afterwards.

Bryant said the policy is necessary to make sure the city is adequately protected in case of an emergency. He said there will be a need for a wide range of skills as the relief effort progresses, and it needed to come up with a policy to cover the whole city.

“As we are quickly learning through the Hurricane Katrina experience, the need for volunteer workers is not limited to public safety personnel,” said Bryant. “We are now getting requests for building inspectors, engineers and administrative personnel to assist in the rescue, recovery and reconstruction effort.”

Reynolds said she doesn’t believe the new policy specifically addresses her request and she wants the city to come up with something that addresses what to do if the city needed to sponsor the employee if they wanted to help with disaster aid. “It doesn’t answer what we were requesting,” she said. “I’m still waiting for them to come up with this policy that they promised because I haven’t seen it yet.”

While the city said the policy is designed to allow city personnel to help out, Desjardins contends that the policy does not read that way to him. “If the purpose of the policy is to encourage people to volunteer and support them, it seems kind of harsh the first two paragraphs mention immediate dismissal,” he said.

The policy states, at the beginning, that any employee found to be working for another agency or business while on leave is subject to immediate discharge. The policy also says that an employee must return to work at the end of the 30-day leave or be terminated.

Because the policy mentions the possibility of termination right at the outset, Desjardins said he believes it sends the message that the city doesn’t support the employee’s desire to help out. “The city doesn’t share the same attitude to go down there and help. Otherwise they would be more supportive,” Desjardins said. “The city should do their fair share.”

In her letter, St.Jock urged the city to find a way to allow its firefighters to participate in the relief effort. “Come on Westbrook and show some compassion,” she said. “Someday, God forbid, we may need help.”

Reynolds is also upset at the fact that while the city did not immediately process hers and Rogers’ applications, the fire department has sent three full-time firefighters this week to a three-day weapons of mass destruction training course in New Mexico sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security.

Littlefield said the New Mexico training was different from the request for help with Katrian relief. “There’s allowable leave for training, and that’s covered by worker’s comp,” he said.

In addition, Littlefield said all of the firefighters’ expenses are being paid by the government, and the city is also being compensated for the additional overtime costs necessary to fill the shifts of the firefighters at the training. He said while the federal agency was going to pay the salaries of the firefighters going to the relief effort, the agency was not going to provide insurance or pay for the overtime to help fill the necessary shifts.

While she continues to be frustrated by what she sees as a lack of response to the city regarding her request, Reynolds said she is still hoping to be part of the relief effort. “I haven’t given up,” she said. “I’m still going to try” and get down there.

The City Council will hold a second vote on the policy at its next meeting. The next regularly scheduled meeting of the City Council will be on Oct. 3 at 7 p.m. in room 114 of Westbrook High School.

Copy the Story Link