I find it very odd to fire someone for doing his job, but at the same time I wonder how much the liability really matters due to Good Samaritan laws etc.
—————
From previous thread.
@Rice in Limbo
In short, Florida is an “at will” employment state. Which means that employers are free to fire an employee for good reason, bad reason, or no reason at ll. Generally the only limitation is that they can’t fire someone for the reason that they are in a protected class (i.e. gender, religion, national origin, etc.).
As to why the employer did what they did, again long story VERY short the employer only has a legal duty to protect/lifeguard the area they contracted to protect. And in the employer’s view, having a lifeguard running off outside of that area could cause a breakdown in coverage of the contracted area, which could lead to substantial liability if something then happened in that contracted area. That’s just one possible reason. There might be others. Perhaps there’s no insurance coverage for employee actions outside of the contracted area.
Notwithstanding, it’s possible that a lifeguard has a legal duty to render aid to someone in need in a situation like this regardless of what his employer contracted to do. It’s certainly something a plaintiff’s attorney could argue.
@ tem99:
Dude was probably happy to finally have an excuse to get out from under the festering asshole he worked for. If your boss fires you for saving someone’s life, he’s an asshole.
@ tem99:
What I don’t get is how that beach is so unsafe if he left. I would think there would be another guard stationed a hundred yards away or so. Let’s say there is an incident in his area that he has to leave to. Who is watching the rest of the beach while he is gone? If he couldn’t leave his post to go save a life, then they are understaffed.
@ josh:
He was trying to be, you know, a good human being. I don’t know if Florida has a Good Samaritan law, but it can actually be illegal for you to not help if you know CPR and see someone who needs it.
@WaLi.
It’s not that the beach was necessarily unsafe if one lifeguard left, but leaving the area certainly increases the risk that the beach would be unsafe. I’m not an aquatic expert but have deposed them before (but in case related to an indoor pool) and there are a lot of rules and regulations as to how many lifeguards are needed, how shift changes should occur (i.e. one lifeguard shouldn’t leave until his replacement lifeguard is in place and ready to watch), what they can be doing while on duty, what they shouldn’t do etc. I would imagine that there is some general rule as to how many lifeguards are needed to patrol a certain sized beach area. And god forbid something happened in the protected area while the 4th lifeguard here was off doing something in the unprotected area – it’s fairly easy at that point for the plaintiff’s attorney to show that there was inadequate supervision. And the last thing you want to have to do is defend yourself against a dead body in the area you were supposed to be watching.
@ tem99:
I’m not sure if the story that broke talked about how many other lifeguards there were in the area but I figured that they had some form of signal to tell another lifeguard on duty that they had to leave to help somebody else and for the replacement to watch the area of beach just vacated. Sometimes there’s just no time but you’d think there was a few seconds available to flag a co-worker and indicate that trouble was afoot.
@ Rice Cube:
I read an article on CNN after I made that post:
Lifeguard Szilard Janko said he guarded Lopez’s zone while the latter aided the swimmer.
“They let him go after he performed the rescue,” Janko said. “They fired him basically on the spot.”
So before he left he made sure the other lifeguard had his area. Sounds like he did everything right. I guess other employees were fired for saying they would do the same thing (dying laughing)
Comments
I wasn’t even drunk when I wrote this.
joshQuote Reply
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVhTDNlbsSc
Rice CubeQuote Reply
(dying laughing)
GBTSQuote Reply
BTW, an AB I recently enjoyed:
http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=22868945&c_id=mlb
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Anyone proficient in legalese want to tackle this one?
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/lifeguard-fired-leaving-post-beach-hallandale-florida-135238189.html
I find it very odd to fire someone for doing his job, but at the same time I wonder how much the liability really matters due to Good Samaritan laws etc.
—————
From previous thread.
@Rice in Limbo
In short, Florida is an “at will” employment state. Which means that employers are free to fire an employee for good reason, bad reason, or no reason at ll. Generally the only limitation is that they can’t fire someone for the reason that they are in a protected class (i.e. gender, religion, national origin, etc.).
As to why the employer did what they did, again long story VERY short the employer only has a legal duty to protect/lifeguard the area they contracted to protect. And in the employer’s view, having a lifeguard running off outside of that area could cause a breakdown in coverage of the contracted area, which could lead to substantial liability if something then happened in that contracted area. That’s just one possible reason. There might be others. Perhaps there’s no insurance coverage for employee actions outside of the contracted area.
Notwithstanding, it’s possible that a lifeguard has a legal duty to render aid to someone in need in a situation like this regardless of what his employer contracted to do. It’s certainly something a plaintiff’s attorney could argue.
/Former litigator
tem99Quote Reply
@ tem99:
I heard they offered him his job back after the bad press and he said no.
joshQuote Reply
@ josh:
@josh. Not too surprised. Imagine the kid can get a job lifeguarding just about anyplace else at this point.
Q: So why did you get fired?
A: For saving someone’s life.
tem99Quote Reply
@ tem99:
Dude was probably happy to finally have an excuse to get out from under the festering asshole he worked for. If your boss fires you for saving someone’s life, he’s an asshole.
joshQuote Reply
Is Mike Trout Jesus?
BubbaBiscuitQuote Reply
@ BubbaBiscuit:
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
@ tem99:
What I don’t get is how that beach is so unsafe if he left. I would think there would be another guard stationed a hundred yards away or so. Let’s say there is an incident in his area that he has to leave to. Who is watching the rest of the beach while he is gone? If he couldn’t leave his post to go save a life, then they are understaffed.
WaLiQuote Reply
@ WaLi:
The beach where the guy was drowning was in an adjacent, unpatrolled beach.
joshQuote Reply
@ josh:
He was trying to be, you know, a good human being. I don’t know if Florida has a Good Samaritan law, but it can actually be illegal for you to not help if you know CPR and see someone who needs it.
joshQuote Reply
@ WaLi:
@WaLi.
It’s not that the beach was necessarily unsafe if one lifeguard left, but leaving the area certainly increases the risk that the beach would be unsafe. I’m not an aquatic expert but have deposed them before (but in case related to an indoor pool) and there are a lot of rules and regulations as to how many lifeguards are needed, how shift changes should occur (i.e. one lifeguard shouldn’t leave until his replacement lifeguard is in place and ready to watch), what they can be doing while on duty, what they shouldn’t do etc. I would imagine that there is some general rule as to how many lifeguards are needed to patrol a certain sized beach area. And god forbid something happened in the protected area while the 4th lifeguard here was off doing something in the unprotected area – it’s fairly easy at that point for the plaintiff’s attorney to show that there was inadequate supervision. And the last thing you want to have to do is defend yourself against a dead body in the area you were supposed to be watching.
tem99Quote Reply
@ tem99:
I’m not sure if the story that broke talked about how many other lifeguards there were in the area but I figured that they had some form of signal to tell another lifeguard on duty that they had to leave to help somebody else and for the replacement to watch the area of beach just vacated. Sometimes there’s just no time but you’d think there was a few seconds available to flag a co-worker and indicate that trouble was afoot.
Thanks for the legalizing, btw.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Personally, I’d rather be canned than watch someone die I could have helped. *shrug*
joshQuote Reply
Brett needs a bit of help, plus I’m curious to see if his posts turn to gibberish in hour 28:
http://www.bleachernation.com/2012/07/05/force-me-to-blog-for-30-straight-hours-at-the-trade-deadline/
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
I read an article on CNN after I made that post:
So before he left he made sure the other lifeguard had his area. Sounds like he did everything right. I guess other employees were fired for saying they would do the same thing (dying laughing)
WaLiQuote Reply
new shit up
dylanjQuote Reply