N.Y. General Municipal Law § 219-e: Participation, vesting and service credit

§ 219-e. Participation, vesting and service credit. 1. A volunteer

ambulance worker must be eligible to participate in any service award

program provided under this article if the volunteer ambulance worker

has reached the age of eighteen and has completed at least one year of

ambulance service.

2. A participant shall have a nonforfeitable right to a service award

upon completing five years of ambulance service, provided, however, that

a sponsor may reduce the number of years of ambulance service required

to obtain a nonforfeitable right to a service award. Any amounts

attributable to forfeiture of a participant's service award shall be

used to reduce contributions for other service award program

participants and shall not in any case be used to increase benefits for

other participants. The preceding shall not preclude amendment of a

service award program to provide for an increase in benefits.

3. A year of ambulance service shall be credited under a service award

program for each calendar year, beginning with the year in which the

program is adopted, in which a volunteer ambulance worker accumulates at

least fifty points. Except as provided in subdivision five of this

section and subdivision eight of section two hundred nineteen-d of this

article, points shall be granted for activities performed after the

effective date of the program in accordance with a system adopted by the

sponsor which shall be applied on a consistent and uniform basis. Such

system shall provide that points shall be granted for activities

designated by the sponsor, which activities shall be selected from the

following:

(a) Training courses -- twenty-five points maximum.

(i) Courses under twenty hours duration -- one point per hour, with a

maximum of five points.

(ii) Courses of twenty to forty-five hours duration -- one point per

hour for each hour over initial twenty hours, with a maximum of ten

points.

(iii) Courses over forty-five hours duration -- fifteen points per

course.

For purposes of this paragraph, the term "training course" shall mean a

course of instruction having a prescribed topic and syllabus. Points for

a training course shall be awarded only upon the successful completion

of the course and only in the year in which the course is successfully

completed.

(b) Drills and seminars -- twenty points maximum. One point per

minimum two hour drill or seminar. For purposes of this paragraph, the

term "drill" shall mean a skills practice or skills training session

related to emergency medical service and the term "seminar" shall mean a

lecture on a topic relating to the emergency medical service.

(c) Sleep-in or stand-by -- twenty points maximum.

(i) Sleep-in -- one point each full night.

(ii) Stand-by -- one point each. A stand-by is defined as line of duty

activity of the volunteer ambulance company, lasting for four hours, not

falling under one of the other categories. A service award program may

not provide points pursuant to this paragraph if the program provides

points for tours of duty pursuant to paragraph (d) of this subdivision.

(d) Tours of duty. A maximum of twenty points may be granted for

serving tours of duty at a rate equal to no more than one-sixth of a

point per hour served as determined by the sponsor. For purposes of this

paragraph, the term "tour of duty" shall mean a line of duty activity,

not falling under one of the other paragraphs of this subdivision,

involving a period of time scheduled or assigned by an ambulance company

during which a volunteer ambulance worker is responsible for providing

emergency medical service or general ambulance service, including

sleep-ins, stand-bys and backup duty, by reason of being stationed at an

event, as part of a rostered duty crew or as otherwise provided by the

regular procedures of the ambulance company. A sponsor may also define

two or more activities included within the meaning of the term tour of

duty and provide for points to be granted for the performance of such

activities at different rates, provided, that points for such activities

shall not be granted at a rate in excess of one-sixth of a point per

hour served and no more than twenty points shall be granted for all such

activities. A service award program may not provide points pursuant to

this paragraph if the program provides points for sleep-ins or stand-bys

pursuant to paragraph (c) of this subdivision.

(e) Elected or appointed position -- twenty-five points maximum.

(i) Completion of one year term in an elected or appointed position.

(ii) A volunteer ambulance worker elected to serve as a delegate to an

ambulance workers' convention shall also be eligible to receive one

point per meeting.

(iii) A volunteer ambulance worker appointed to serve on the New York

state emergency medical services council, the state emergency medical

advisory committee, a regional emergency medical services council or a

regional emergency medical advisory committee, established pursuant to

article thirty of the public health law shall also be eligible to

receive one point per meeting.

(f) Attendance at meetings -- twenty points maximum.

(i) Attendance at any official meetings of the ambulance company --

one point per meeting.

(ii) Attendance at official meetings of a standing committee of the

ambulance company by a member of the committee -- one point per meeting.

(g) Participation in ambulance company responses -- twenty-five points

for responding on the minimum number of calls, as outlined below:

Total number of calls 0 500 1000 1500

ambulance company responds to to to and

to annually 500 1000 1500 over

Minimum number of calls 10% 7.5% 5% 2.5%

volunteer

ambulance worker

must run annually in order to

receive twenty-five points credit

A volunteer ambulance worker who is granted points toward a year of

ambulance service pursuant to this paragraph may not be granted points

toward the same year of ambulance service for alternative participation

company responses pursuant to paragraph (h) of this subdivision.

(h) Alternative participation in company responses. A maximum of

twenty-five points may be granted for participation in company responses

at a rate equal to no more than one-half point per response as

determined by the sponsor. A volunteer ambulance worker who is granted

points toward a year of ambulance service pursuant to this paragraph may

not be granted points toward the same year of ambulance service for

participation in company responses pursuant to paragraph (g) of this

subdivision.

(i) Miscellaneous activities -- maximum fifteen points. Participation

in inspections and other activities covered by the volunteer ambulance

workers' benefit law and not otherwise listed -- one point per activity.

(j) The sponsor may designate less than all the activities specified

in this subdivision as activities for which points may be earned.

4. Points toward a year of ambulance service may be granted for

activities performed after a participant reaches entitlement age, but

shall not be granted for activities performed after a participant

applies for a service award.

5. A service award program which is to take effect on a day other than

the first day of January may provide for points to be granted toward a

year of ambulance service for activities performed prior to the

effective date of the program and on or after the immediately preceding

first day of January, provided, the proposition authorizing adoption of

the program contains a statement authorizing points to be granted for

such activities. Points attributable to such activities shall be granted

in accordance with the point system adopted by the sponsor pursuant to

subdivision three of this section.

6. In computing credit for those volunteer ambulance workers who also

serve as paid employees within a political subdivision of the state,

credit shall not be given for activities performed during the

individual's regularly assigned work periods.

7. A participant whose ambulance service is interrupted by full-time

extended obligatory military service or by a single voluntary enlistment

not to exceed four years in the armed forces of the United States shall

be considered on military leave. During such period of military leave,

the participant shall receive fifty points for each full year of

military service, prorated for military service of less than a year.

7-a. An active volunteer ambulance worker's service award program may

provide for the crediting of years of and points for volunteer ambulance

service for periods after an active volunteer ambulance worker has

reached the entitlement age and is receiving a service award.

8. The state comptroller may promulgate rules and regulations

prescribing procedures and forms for the compilation and maintenance of

records of the points accumulated by each volunteer ambulance worker.

Each ambulance company shall compile and maintain such records in the

manner prescribed.

9. The president, secretary and chief or comparable officers of each

ambulance company shall submit to the governing board of the sponsor a

list of all volunteer members, certified under oath, which shall

identify those volunteer members who have qualified for credit under the

award program for the previous year. Such list shall be submitted

annually by March thirty-first or otherwise as provided in the rules and

regulations of the state comptroller and shall be accompanied by such

membership records and records of point accumulations as the governing

board may require to substantiate the accuracy of the list.

Notwithstanding the provisions of this subdivision a volunteer ambulance

worker may request that his name be deleted from said list as a

"participant". Such request for deletion shall be in writing and shall

remain effective until withdrawn in the same manner.

10. The governing board of the sponsor shall review the list of each

ambulance company and may delete the name of any person who was not a

volunteer ambulance worker during the preceding calendar year or the

name of any volunteer ambulance worker who did not earn fifty points

during the preceding calendar year or whose point accumulation has not

been adequately documented. Thereafter, the governing board shall

approve the list and return a copy of the list to the ambulance company

and forward a certified copy of the approved list to the program

administrator.

11. Upon receipt of the approved list, the ambulance company shall

post the list at its principal headquarters for at least thirty days. A

volunteer ambulance worker whose name does not appear on the approved

list shall have the right to appeal within thirty days of posting of the

list. The appeal shall be in writing and mailed to the clerk or

secretary of the governing board of the sponsor, which shall investigate

the appeal. The decision of the governing board shall be subject to

judicial review pursuant to article seventy-eight of the civil practice

law and rules.

12. In the event that a volunteer ambulance worker is either totally

and temporarily disabled or partially and permanently disabled as

certified by the workers' compensation board or other competent

authority approved by the state comptroller, and the disability occurs

during the course of service as a volunteer while actively engaged in

providing line-of-duty services as defined in the volunteer ambulance

workers benefit law, the volunteer shall be credited with five points

for each full month of such disability; provided, however, such

volunteer shall cease to be credited with such line of duty disability

points after attaining the entitlement age.