Ugh, politics!
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I work for a "local government" which oversees the Fire Chief, who oversees our Fire/Rescue Service. This service has been a constant source of controversy in town because they lose money every year.
A newly elected Town Board member takes "potshots" at the Fire Chief and his department at a public level every chance he gets. The Fire Chief has extended many offers to meet with him and to answer any question, any time but the Board member fails to show up for appointments, etc. One-on-one, the Board member is friendly to the Chief.
Is there anything in HR law that allows for recourse for an elected official's bad treatment of an employee? It's really getting under the Chief's skin.
Thanks in advance for your help!
A newly elected Town Board member takes "potshots" at the Fire Chief and his department at a public level every chance he gets. The Fire Chief has extended many offers to meet with him and to answer any question, any time but the Board member fails to show up for appointments, etc. One-on-one, the Board member is friendly to the Chief.
Is there anything in HR law that allows for recourse for an elected official's bad treatment of an employee? It's really getting under the Chief's skin.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Comments
If the issues were settled, people would have to go back to talking about the weather, the fire danger and the lack of mining jobs. How much fun is that?
Please forgive me for being a bit tongue in cheek - but as Gillian and Larry both said, this probably does not fall under any sort of harassment guidelines.
It is an opinion being expressed and when a public department loses money - of course it will be under the spotlight.
I would bet there are other departments that also lose money - but c'mon - how much can you cut a fire department when one good fire on the wrong side of town, fueled by some strong westerly winds, could kill people, hurt people and wipe out bunches of property.
I would just tell the chief to grow a thick skin and keep placing the public good in front of the people who care.
Easy to fix........set a fee schedule for rescues, not that hard.
Auto accident,$500.00, $1,000.00 if jaws of life are used
Cat out of tree $300.00
Kid out of tree $500.00
Kids or cats from burning building $1,000
Water rescue $1,000 $2,500 if they drove into high water.
Firefighting saving of house: $2,500
Tornado or all other rescues: $750.00
I hope this board memeber never has a fire at his house, I have $5.00 bucks that says they let it brn to the ground, claim equipment malfunction/failure and blame hime for not approving more budget dollars.
My $0.02 worth........
The Balloonman
The "rescue" portion of the service is actually our ambulance service. Because we don't have our own hospital and we're 70 miles away from the nearest one we're somehow limited in the amount we can bill...I don't really understand the nuances.
At any rate, you'd probably win your $5.00.
I assume your town has regular public business meetings with an agenda where both elected officials and department heads are present. Perhaps this is the place to confront the accusations. Your Fire Chief probably has his supporters as well who may be able to help muzzle the new kid. This approach assumes his ducks are in a row. Otherwise, silence is golden.
That being said, how to deal with fellow human beings, especially those with more power and authority, is the age old problem, and no one method is best. Your Fire Chief has to decide for himself the pros and cons on what actions to take, if any.