Not Certified

[mbadcompany]

Hey everyone I have a question:

The ambulance company I work for currently, I wont name names, has had us do some pretty fishy things in the past, but one thing has been a hot topic in the company as of late and that is the L.A. city certification.

From what I have been told you must have this certification to pick up patients in Los Angeles city, but our company has had us do a bunch of these calls without the majority of us knowing about this. Whenever the bosses, very very small company, are confronted with the issue they or the dispatchers always tell us that we are in "the process" of getting the license or have it but we dont know the license number or pretty much any info about it. It usually switches between the two answers.

Well the last time we worked we had a call to pick up out of a major hospital in LA and before even turning the rig on this time, I asked the dispatcher about the licensing situation. Sure enough he told me that we have it but he doesnt know anything more about it. The way he said it made it very clear that it was all rehearsed and that he actually knew nothing about what was going on. I refused to do the call unless I was shown some proof that we are able to pick up the patient. No proof could be shown so my partner and I returned to the station from a previous call and we were sent home as soon as we arrived.

Does anyone know the details of the LA city certification or penalties for picking up without it? If the certification is required is there anyone I could report this issue to because I do not like the idea of my fellow coworkers being in this same situation and I am tired of being mistreated by the company.

Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Shishkabob]

You refused to do a call. That's not a good thing.


I don't know the local laws for you, but I highly doubt YOU would be the ones getting in trouble for picking up a patient in a place where your company doesn't have the proper paperwork.


It's not your job to worry about contracts and licenses beyond your private licenses... it IS your job to go to the calls you are dispatched to.

 

[mbadcompany]

The coworker I was with was very knowledgeable about the situation and told me that not only would the company be held accountable but the EMTs doing the call as well.

Feigning ignorance would not have worked as well seeing as how it is our personal responisbility to know what we are allowed to do and not do.

When we were sent home the dispatcher told us that the reason we were leaving was not because of the call refusal but because of the low call volume for the night, which made me believe that if we refused a call that we were allowed to take they would have told us that.

 

[looker]

Being you asked about it I will explain. Look at your back door window, do you have a sticker from city of la? No, then vehicle is not pemited to pick up patients in la(you can drop them off in any city). Do you personally have ladot license, if not you're not authorized to operate in the city of la. Until such time as the company gets approval from ladot city council to operate ambulance in the city of la they are not permitted to do so.

What can and eventually will happen is you/the company you work for will get busted. It means that a fine will be issued and company will pay it. How long have they been in business, is it less than a year? The reason they might not have permission to operate in the city of la is because a)they don't have the 1 year minimum experience requirement or b)they applied for approval but being it takes an average of 4 month to get it, they are still waiting.

edit:Yes you can report them, but understand you will be fired period.

 

[bstone]

A few years ago we had a brand new ambulance on the road. A City of Chicago police officer randomly asked the crew for the City of Chicago inspection sticker. There wasn't one (tho it was scheduled to go in for the inspection the very next morning, strangely enough). The officer then ordered the crew out of the ambulance, towed the ambulance and ticketed the crew.

Your mileage may vary.

 

[mbadcompany]

From what i understand, we do have the sticker on the back of the ambulance, but no the company has not been open for even a year yet, and we have only started to accept, or get, call from LA city for maybe 2 months now.

So what you are saying is that if I do report the company, I personally will get fined as well regardless?

 

[looker]

A few years ago we had a brand new ambulance on the road. A City of Chicago police officer randomly asked the crew for the City of Chicago inspection sticker. There wasn't one (tho it was scheduled to go in for the inspection the very next morning, strangely enough). The officer then ordered the crew out of the ambulance, towed the ambulance and ticketed the crew.

Your mileage may vary.

I would say that is a bit extreme. Most will happen is ladot investigator will fine them and order to return the patient back to where they were picking him/her up from. Vehicle will not be towed, well unless they been fined multiple times.

 

[looker]

From what i understand, we do have the sticker on the back of the ambulance, but no the company has not been open for even a year yet, and we have only started to accept, or get, call from LA city for maybe 2 months now.

So what you are saying is that if I do report the company, I personally will get fined as well regardless?

You will not be fined fo reportnig but for sure fired(yes i know about whistle blower protection law, they will still find a way). If they have sticker they are authorized to operate in the city of la. I am bit confused why they haven't sent you to ladot to get your permit.

In that case one of your full time managers must have over 1 year experience in operating an ambulance. The company it self is authorized to operate in la..i am bit confused on what you're being told by dispatcher and why

 

[JPINFV]

You refused to do a call. That's not a good thing.


I don't know the local laws for you, but I highly doubt YOU would be the ones getting in trouble for picking up a patient in a place where your company doesn't have the proper paperwork.

My understanding is that they would have liability, but I agree that the likelihood of actually getting in legal trouble over it would be slim. Just like it isn't your job to repair the ambulance, but if anything obvious is wrong with ambulance, the crew can still be held liable.

However, there is one big caveat when it comes to issues like this. In general, if an ambulance transports a patient into an area requiring extra licenses, they can do the return transport if the return transport occurs within 24 hours of the drop off.


Edit:For what it's worth, you could probably submit an anonymous report. Just don't give them any contact information. You still run the risk of being fired, but if multiple people are raising a stink about it, then it's harder to track it down to one person.

 

[looker]

My understanding is that they would have liability, but I agree that the likelihood of actually getting in legal trouble over it would be slim. Just like it isn't your job to repair the ambulance, but if anything obvious is wrong with ambulance, the crew can still be held liable.

However, there is one big caveat when it comes to issues like this. In general, if an ambulance transports a patient into an area requiring extra licenses, they can do the return transport if the return transport occurs within 24 hours of the drop off.


Edit:For what it's worth, you could probably submit an anonymous report. Just don't give them any contact information. You still run the risk of being fired, but if multiple people are raising a stink about it, then it's harder to track it down to one person.

The city of la/la county, oc all consider each trip to be separate leg as such to pick up your own patient you must be licensed in the city of la. They are doing it in order to get the $$$ and to regulate ambulance better.

 

[mbadcompany]

The city of la/la county, oc all consider each trip to be separate leg as such to pick up your own patient you must be licensed in the city of la. They are doing it in order to get the $$$ and to regulate ambulance better.

So what you are saying is that you DO need an extra permit to pick up people in la city right? i have all the certs for la county, but im wondering about la city itself.

 

[looker]

So what you are saying is that you DO need an extra permit to pick up people in la city right? i have all the certs for la county, but im wondering about la city itself.

la county/la city have their own permitts. Yes you need to have permit for each city. Your ambulance are only la city permitted, county or both? County of la is a pain in the *** to get permitted.

 

[mbadcompany]

la county/la city have their own permitts. Yes you need to have permit for each city. Your ambulance are only la city permitted, county or both? County of la is a pain in the *** to get permitted.

Im pretty sure we had the county come by and inspect them and everything. We got the sticker that was put on the back window after that, as far as the city permits go I really doubt we have it which is why all of this stuff is going down.

 

[mbadcompany]

So should I send an anonymous report if possible? I really dont like how my bosses are operating this.

 

[looker]

Im pretty sure we had the county come by and inspect them and everything. We got the sticker that was put on the back window after that, as far as the city permits go I really doubt we have it which is why all of this stuff is going down.

If you got no sticker, you got no permit. It sounds like they are in "process" of getting it. Understand that you can report them but also do you really want to be unemployeed? If the company needs less emt's, they might fire some of them till they are able to resume work in la.

 

[mbadcompany]

If you got no sticker, you got no permit. It sounds like they are in "process" of getting it. Understand that you can report them but also do you really want to be unemployeed? If the company needs less emt's, they might fire some of them till they are able to resume work in la.

Yea we did get the inspection sticker i remember now. And personally I don't really care about being unemployed for the time being. Mid February they severely reduced our hours, cutting us down to 12 hours a week. I come in at 7 at night i leave the following morning at 7 then I have a week off lol. All but about 5 employees remain, and two of the bosses came straight from the field to the company so they still have their certs and run the weekday calls.

So you can see how I could do without the gas money im getting from this place.

 

[looker]

Yea we did get the inspection sticker i remember now. And personally I don't really care about being unemployed for the time being. Mid February they severely reduced our hours, cutting us down to 12 hours a week. I come in at 7 at night i leave the following morning at 7 then I have a week off lol. All but about 5 employees remain, and two of the bosses came straight from the field to the company so they still have their certs and run the weekday calls.

So you can see how I could do without the gas money im getting from this place.

Check your private message, sounds like time to look for new company. Good luck.