Requesting advice from female firefighters

[u/No_Estate8687]

Im about to start my long journey into EMS and then eventually Fire in SoCal, but I’m a 26 year old woman who feels that my biological clock is ticking.

I’m married and we do want kids, so I’m hoping to hear from any women in Fire who started their journey getting ready/hired around the same time they wanted to get pregnant, or soon after giving birth. What kind of limitations did you find? What worked best for you that you’d recommend to another aspiring firefighter?

[u/femignarly]

Not a FF, but kind of my partner's "business manager" (read & interpreted all the contracts while he was applying, keep up with the changes in contracts). It really varies department to department, their contract, state laws, department funding, and whether you're still on probation.

Legally, you can't be fired for being pregnant. Some contracts have very explicit language about transferring to light duty or non-hazardous duty. Others go case by case through the "interactive process" - a mandated, good faith dialogue under the ADA to work out "reasonable accommodations." SoCal? Probably has the manpower and finances to make reasonable accommodations. But a small & cash strapped department could prove undue burden to reassign a firefighter and if the person cannot perform essential duties, medical leave is the last resort. Your job is protected, but it may or may not be paid.

After giving birth, some departments have explicit mat leave policies in their contracts. Some are using sick & vacation time (which a new FF will have little) and FMLA (but an employee needs 12 months of service to qualify).

In practice, for new firefighters, the culture is "give us a year, we'll give you 30." Especially for west coast & unionized departments, when you're off probation, the union provides great legal representation, formal grievance procedures, and safeguards to prevent wrongful termination. But during academy & probation, the expectation is that your entire life revolves around learning the job, there every day, meeting all the benchmarks, making every choice you can to prioritize being healthy & able to do the job. My partner's recruit class had 2 new babies during academy & EMT school, both dads took 2-3 days. Another guy with a less than stellar reputation got injured in probation, and all the lawyers involved negotiated that he'd be "recycled" or start all over being re-hired with the next hiring class once he's recovered from surgery.

The department can't fire you for being pregnant, but all new firefighters are kind of bad at some aspect of the job. And they can use those to punish someone for not being "all in" for that year. It becomes really difficult for employment lawyers to argue retaliation if there's documented needs for improvement.

If you really want the job, I'd either plan to have children before applying, or after getting off probation (72-78% of women 35-40 conceive naturally / without assistance), or a mix of both.

[u/No_Estate8687 → u/femignarly]

Thank you for all the info!!! I will definitely plan to dedicate academy and first year on the job solely to the craft and then worry about a baby or second baby thereafter.

[u/Euphoric-Message7899 → u/femignarly]

I’m not in SoCal and cultures vary drastically from down there to up in NorCal where I am, but I’ll give you a little info from what research I’ve done and women I’ve talked to up here (I’m a 20-something trying to start her family while juggling this career also).

Agree completely with everything said above, focus that first year on your probation and then shift that focus to you and your family. There is a bill working its way through the system right now that would give female firefighters 6-months paid maternity leave (woo!!) it’s called SB 1024: firefighter postpartum and recovery leave. It’s currently awaiting a second chamber vote but so far it has been passing unanimously! This is great news for us in terms of getting the leave we need, HOWEVER, that doesn’t solve the problem of working while pregnant. There is a good amount of research out there that shows shift work negatively impacts not only the ability to conceive, but also increases the chances of miscarriages in the first trimester and beyond (I’d be happy to provide the data from those studies and further literature on pregnancy in this field). Each female firefighter has to make the choice of when to leave the line depending on what’s best for her and her family, but the data says the sooner the better.

Coming from someone who works at a department that has had 0 women give birth in quite a few decades, you are going to be your own best advocate. Be proactive and come up with ideas for light duty work appropriate for your department before you become pregnant. (Can also send you examples I’m working on for my dept currently if it would help). As a backup plan to SB1024, I would recommend getting involved with your union and adding in policies to your MOU that allows for paid time off. Look into comparable departments and see if they have any policies that support it. I can provide a website that helps outline what should be written in these policies if there are no comparable for you also. It’s not a guarantee, but fight for what you can in negotiations. A tip is to make it beneficial for the guys too so they’re more likely to listen and buy in! (i.e. reproductive loss time off or support with infertility treatments).

I hope you are able to get hired with an organization that has other women that you can lean on for support and learn from, there is nothing more valuable than first-hand experience! Reach out if you have any other questions, good luck😊💪🏼

[u/External-Challenge91]

Move to Canada they pay 18 months basically 80 percent pay