You are the chief of a large county-wide integrated fire and emergency medical services (EMS) organization. A recent Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) investigation and legal action involving another large integrated fire and EMS city fire department was disclosed in a neighboring county.
The complaint is centered on discriminatory recruitment and hiring practices. This department was previously the focus of a consent decree for similar practices in the 1970s. The consent decree was lifted in the early 1990s. The recently disclosed EEOC action in the neighboring city’s fire department is the hot topic around the fire stations. Many do not clearly understand the role of the EEOC and are fearful of an investigation.
Prepare a narrative and podcast addressing the concerns within your department that will be shared on your weekly “Ask-the-Chief Wednesdays” podcast. You should address the items listed below in your podcast.
Describe why consent decrees were used in the 1970s.
Briefly describe the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as it relates to the recruitment, assessment, and hiring practices in the fire and EMS departments.
Describe each of the elements of the department’s recruitment, assessment, and hiring practices and how each is structured to comply with federal, state, and local antidiscrimination laws.
Discuss business practices that could potentially place an EMSS in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
Your podcast should be at least 5 minutes in length. Using Word, prepare a narrative of your podcast, and add audio to the Word document for submission. You should include at least three scholarly sources to support your podcast, one of which should be the course eTextbook. You may reference industry-specific literature that supports the best practices in recruitment, assessment, hiring, and retention practices.
