PRINTER'S NO. 3200
No. 278 Session of 1990
INTRODUCED BY J. L. WRIGHT, TIGUE, VROON, JOHNSON, CESSAR,
SEMMEL, D. W. SNYDER, COY, BUNT, E. Z. TAYLOR, BURD,
CORRIGAN, BILLOW, FARGO, TELEK, STABACK, OLASZ, CLYMER,
JACKSON, NOYE, DIETTERICK, SAURMAN, HERSHEY, MOEHLMANN,
NAHILL, FOX, SERAFINI, PESCI, HECKLER, TRELLO, BARLEY,
R. C. WRIGHT, PETRARCA, MORRIS, WILSON, MERRY, MAINE AND
MELIO, MARCH 20, 1990
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON RULES, MARCH 20, 1990
A RESOLUTION
1 Urging the United States Department of Labor not to interpret
2 the Fair Labor Standards Act in a manner which would require
3 that paid members of rescue squads who volunteer additional
4 time be paid for overtime.
5 WHEREAS, The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 provides that
6 paid employees may not perform unpaid volunteer work for their
7 employers, the rationale for the law being to protect employees
8 from coercion to work overtime without pay; and
9 WHEREAS, Paid members of rescue squads, such as medical
10 technicians and paramedics, often volunteer time in addition to
11 their regular shifts, purely of their own volition and
12 willingness to help, but technically they fall within the
13 provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act; and
14 WHEREAS, As one example, according to a recent Department of
15 Labor audit, $1 million in unpaid overtime was compiled by 12 of
16 the 14 full-time employees of a Bucks County ambulance and
1 rescue unit; and
2 WHEREAS, If the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division
3 strictly enforces the law and compels the payment of back pay,
4 the service would be bankrupt and out of business; and
5 WHEREAS, Volunteerism, already ebbing throughout the nation,
6 is critical to rescue, ambulance and fire services; and
7 WHEREAS, Rescue squads throughout this Commonwealth, already
8 afflicted by manpower shortages and struggling to attract
9 volunteers, could lose some of their most reliable and competent
10 volunteers if the Federal Government pursues back pay for
11 workers who "want to give back to the community"; therefore be
12 it
13 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the
14 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania urge the United States Department
15 of Labor to interpret and enforce the Fair Labor Standards Act
16 of 1938 in the manner in which it was intended, that being to
17 protect employees from coercion to work overtime, and that it
18 not be interpreted and pursued in such a manner as to apply to
19 those who willingly volunteer their time and skills to assist
20 their communities by providing rescue, ambulance, fire and other
21 valuable services; and be it further
22 RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be transmitted to
23 the Honorable Elizabeth Hanford Dole, Secretary of Labor of the
24 United States.
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