424A.01 Membership in a volunteer firefighters' relief association.
Subdivision 1. Minors. It is unlawful for any municipality or independent nonprofit firefighting corporation to employ a minor as a volunteer firefighter or to permit a minor to serve in any capacity performing any firefighting duties with a volunteer fire department.
Subd. 2. Status of substitute volunteer firefighters. No person who is serving as a substitute volunteer firefighter shall be deemed to be a firefighter for purposes of chapter 69 or this chapter nor shall be authorized to be a member of any volunteer firefighters' relief association governed by chapter 69 or this chapter.
Subd. 3. Status of nonmember volunteer firefighters. No person who is serving as a firefighter in a fire department but who is not a member of the applicable firefighters' relief association shall be entitled to any service pension or ancillary benefits from the relief association.
Subd. 3a. Repealed, 1989 c 319 art 10 s 8
Subd. 4. Exclusion of persons constituting an unwarranted health risk. The board of trustees of every relief association may exclude from membership in the relief association all applicants who, due to some medically determinable physical or mental impairment or condition, would constitute a predictable and unwarranted risk of imposing liability for an ancillary benefit at any age earlier than the minimum age specified for receipt of a service pension. Notwithstanding any provision of section 363A.25, it shall be a good and valid defense to a complaint or action brought under chapter 363A that the board of trustees of the relief association made a good faith determination that the applicant suffers from an impairment or condition constituting a predictable and unwarranted risk for the relief association if the determination was made following consideration of: (a) the person's medical history; and (b) the report of the physician completing a physical examination of the applicant completed at the expense of the relief association.
Subd. 5. Fire prevention personnel. (a) If the fire department is a municipal department and the applicable municipality approves, or if the fire department is an independent nonprofit firefighting corporation and the contracting municipality or municipalities approve, the fire department may employ or otherwise utilize the services of persons as volunteer firefighters to perform fire prevention duties and to supervise fire prevention activities.
(b) Personnel serving in fire prevention positions are eligible to be members of the applicable volunteer firefighter relief association and to qualify for service pension or other benefit coverage of the relief association on the same basis as fire department personnel who perform fire suppression duties.
(c) Personnel serving in fire prevention positions also are eligible to receive any other benefits under the applicable law or practice for services on the same basis as personnel employed to perform fire suppression duties.
HIST: 1979 c 201 s 11; 1981 c 224 s 274; 1982 c 460 s 7; 1983 c 219 s 5; 1989 c 319 art 10 s 2; 1996 c 438 art 8 s 3
Official Publication of the State of Minnesota
Revisor of Statutes