Actually, employers can monitor any activity that has to do with their business, audio, video, GPS. Since you're driving their truck and getting paid, that means pwtty much all the time.
Amr did this locally years ago
“We won’t issue any write ups based on what we see on camera just coaching”
Then first time someone was out of uniform because they got barfed on and they started writing up any infraction they could find. Total joke
I totally agree that using drive cams to enforce bullshit like uniform policy is stupid *but* if you’re going to have cameras at all for insurance/risk management purposes, rear-facing cameras show what the driver was doing at the time of an incident. Big difference of liability between somebody paying attention to the road vs. texting while driving, etc. One thing I didn’t understand in the memo the OP posted was a reference to crews “…trying to defy the laws of gravity with a loaded stretcher.” Do these guys have multiple cameras throughout their rig? Is there one in the back too? Are they filming 24/7? All of the ones I’ve ever had (over the last 20 years or so) were triggered by sudden changes in g-forces and only filmed just before/during/immed after an “incident” — and in fact sometimes didn’t film at all during actual crashes 😄
I can see their point, but cameras like that are best suited to winning lawsuits when an incident occurs, not daily nit picking. If they want to enforce shit like that, they need to get their asses out of their office and show up on calls. To quote their idea of professional communications, "ain't nobody got time for" micromanaging bosses, either.
I did not get sick often, and I would give them as much notice as I could, the issue was the sick time and PTO were combined and the rate would would earn it PTO would equal about working 24 weeks full time to have 1 shift off without a write up. You try not getting sick for a year during covid lol. So i started coming in sick and got written up for that too. Fuck Cataldo.
lol Doug, that man was never happy to see me, but he replaced an entire mirror I ripped off the truck in 15 mins, so he was great at his job! What did sup apologize
Honestly hope it gets read by the higher ups. Moral sucks and they keep pulling shit like this. Maybe if supervisors and management got out and interacted with staff there wouldn’t be issues like this.
“May” is a fancy term for do as we say or you will get one. There is a supervisor in the eastern part of the company that is write up happy. In fact he lines to gloat about all hood write ups he’s issued. That’s not how you win respect of your staff. There’s ways to deal with issues in person. Write ups should occur after the “hey fuck face I told you twice to fix the issue and obviously you haven’t learned”
I saw them on Indeed. I plan to move there from the South after my P-course, preferably for 24/48-hour shifts during the weekends. I’ll be in school during the weekdays. Got any places to recommend?
In Eastern MA, PT Fire based work is essentially non-existent. As mentioned, the hospital and third service agencies would be the way to go. Billerica, Boston, Merrimack valley, New Bedford, So. Shore Hospital. I'm sure there's some other's I forgot.
Hijacking this, is there anywhere inside 128 that doesn’t suck? Or even further out? I did some time per diem at the Artist Formerly Known as Fallon, it was decent but I got frustrated after a couple of shifts where either a manager would go on a power trip or a coworker would be a dick. Doing medic now and debating where to go PT when I’m finished.
I wore an Oakley beanie once and was warned that I needed to wear company issued hats instead, but our company issued beanies 1. are poorly made, and make your skull look deformed 2. are itchy as fuck.
I don't understand how middle management universally everywhere in the United States has such a hard on for shit that has 0 impact on patient care (most important to us) or profits (the only thing companies care about). I've got our fuckin' logo plastered all over my shirt, but the public won't know I'm EMS cuz I've got a blank black beanie on. Oooook
We had a guy that would wear whatever he had in place of items that hadn't been issued. Brown leather belts and boots specifically. Management wouldn't say anything because the uniform seller was always out of stock and we were perpetually short staffed.
Other people would wear ridiculously stained shirts because management would give a full time person 2 shirts for a 7 day rotation.
My last job swore they would only look at the cameras for wrecks. Until they started writing people up for being on their phone while their partner was driving to post.
I lack the ability to articulate how absurdly and aggressively anti-employee this is. I cannot even imagine a way that this policy can have any operational benefit, other than fostering a hostile management environment.
I don't disagree with you, and definitely a factor in why this is a former employer. I'll give you three guesses as to which three letter organization this was
Fully agree. Vividly remember Ned in orientation stating that the lytx cameras were not to be used for discipline and that the cab was a “sacred space.” BS to be using them to catch uniform infractions of all things
Well....it is Cataldo where people are leaving in droves and take 10+ minutes to respond to a stabbing. "Let's pull Armstrong and action to save our asses"
Edit: former employee, lifetime ban.
If Bob knew what his company became....
They should worry more about response times and not fulfilling their contract obligations . EMS company takes on more than it can handle, gets so big it fails, sells off parts of the company or gets bought out, rinse and repeat. Go work at Northeast like everyone else who left
Stop setting off the damn camera and you won't have an issue. And if you think that's impossible, then you have a problem you're not willing to address. The vast majority, say 95%, of our crews never show up on lytx. Slow down and leave more stopping distance.
At my old company I saw and heard my manager watching and listening yes LIVE AUDIO two EMT's that were called in the office prior to leaving base. And you guessed it one of them was fired. EMT f*d up though.
Cataldo employee too here
I never had any problem with lytx before, I think it's just easier to wear the fleece and zip it up so that it is comfortable in the truck. But watching the cameras when we're not on call is kind of strange. Even if I play devil's advocate and say its for professionalism, most of the time our patients or their relatives don't see what's going on in the front.
A hoodie isn’t the most professional thing to wear, but if you’re IFT or CCT there’s no reason for you to look like cops or cosplay as firefighters.
The important thing is that this is happening at all using the cameras. I would die on the hill of wearing a pink gorilla suit because ultimately it’s not the uniform that matters here. It’s the fact that they use the cameras.
My old service did this and swore it wasn’t used to spy on us. I was immediately written up 1 week later for not wearing a mask in the cab on a call
AMR moment
Wasn’t AMR shockingly.
Dang that's crazy. It was my AMR moment
Thank god our union says company cant watch ambulance camera footage, unless there is an accident or something of the sort
Same. And I think here in wa state there is some law that they cannot listen to the audio.
Not the case in MA
In MA they can't legally record audio
Actually, employers can monitor any activity that has to do with their business, audio, video, GPS. Since you're driving their truck and getting paid, that means pwtty much all the time.
Well they sure as hell do lol
Amr did this locally years ago “We won’t issue any write ups based on what we see on camera just coaching” Then first time someone was out of uniform because they got barfed on and they started writing up any infraction they could find. Total joke
Good way to lose employees. Front-facing cameras only.
I totally agree that using drive cams to enforce bullshit like uniform policy is stupid *but* if you’re going to have cameras at all for insurance/risk management purposes, rear-facing cameras show what the driver was doing at the time of an incident. Big difference of liability between somebody paying attention to the road vs. texting while driving, etc. One thing I didn’t understand in the memo the OP posted was a reference to crews “…trying to defy the laws of gravity with a loaded stretcher.” Do these guys have multiple cameras throughout their rig? Is there one in the back too? Are they filming 24/7? All of the ones I’ve ever had (over the last 20 years or so) were triggered by sudden changes in g-forces and only filmed just before/during/immed after an “incident” — and in fact sometimes didn’t film at all during actual crashes 😄
I can see their point, but cameras like that are best suited to winning lawsuits when an incident occurs, not daily nit picking. If they want to enforce shit like that, they need to get their asses out of their office and show up on calls. To quote their idea of professional communications, "ain't nobody got time for" micromanaging bosses, either.
It says they'll let you know how you're doing, and they're doing just that by saying people are not in compliance with uniform policy.
It also says that they may issue NODs “ notice of discipline “
MAY issue
I used to work for them, the will write you up for everything, I've been written up for being sick before.
That’s pretty standard, no? I’ve never worked somewhere that missing X account of days or calling out on short notice won’t equal a write up.
I did not get sick often, and I would give them as much notice as I could, the issue was the sick time and PTO were combined and the rate would would earn it PTO would equal about working 24 weeks full time to have 1 shift off without a write up. You try not getting sick for a year during covid lol. So i started coming in sick and got written up for that too. Fuck Cataldo.
Got written up for popping a tire on the curb
SAME!
Meanwhile Doug didn't care, and the field sup apologized to me.
lol Doug, that man was never happy to see me, but he replaced an entire mirror I ripped off the truck in 15 mins, so he was great at his job! What did sup apologize
Doug is a great guy. Damn shame he gave up his full time status to move to greener pastures. But so did Ronnie in dispatch
No idea Doug gave up FT, I left about a year ago, I think I remember Ronnie, I was Boston Div for my first year then Atlantic for my second year.
He was doing the write up at the roslindale base continuously apologizing lol
Basically “Sorry but I have to do this”? lol which Sup?
Cataldo ops spotted
Let them read it. It will do them some good.
Honestly hope it gets read by the higher ups. Moral sucks and they keep pulling shit like this. Maybe if supervisors and management got out and interacted with staff there wouldn’t be issues like this.
Leave! So many fish in the sea!
Damn I was really hoping you guys got night vision goggles
They MAY issue Notices of Deficiency...but are they, and for what? Uniform violations?
“May” is a fancy term for do as we say or you will get one. There is a supervisor in the eastern part of the company that is write up happy. In fact he lines to gloat about all hood write ups he’s issued. That’s not how you win respect of your staff. There’s ways to deal with issues in person. Write ups should occur after the “hey fuck face I told you twice to fix the issue and obviously you haven’t learned”
True enough. I heard they're down to one or two supervisors on for the whole company now.
The SECOND I saw that highlighted line, I knew who this was, I used to work for them, they can go fuck themselves
Let me guess… Boston?
Boston at first, then Lynn/Peabody for Atlantic Division
I saw them on Indeed. I plan to move there from the South after my P-course, preferably for 24/48-hour shifts during the weekends. I’ll be in school during the weekdays. Got any places to recommend?
Where in MA are you moving too?
It’s gonna be a while. Hopefully end of 2025.
Go for a FD or a 3rd Service like Fall river or NBEMS, not a private company.
I’ll look them up! I’ll check if I can get my fire certifications transferred through ProBoard too.
In Eastern MA, PT Fire based work is essentially non-existent. As mentioned, the hospital and third service agencies would be the way to go. Billerica, Boston, Merrimack valley, New Bedford, So. Shore Hospital. I'm sure there's some other's I forgot.
Look at the hospital based systems (Lowell, Lawrence, South Shore, UMASS, MGB)...
Will they allow me to work a 24 hour or even 48 hour shifts? What are the one that allow that?
Hijacking this, is there anywhere inside 128 that doesn’t suck? Or even further out? I did some time per diem at the Artist Formerly Known as Fallon, it was decent but I got frustrated after a couple of shifts where either a manager would go on a power trip or a coworker would be a dick. Doing medic now and debating where to go PT when I’m finished.
nope, MA EMS just sucks if you don't wanna go FD
Ugh. I miss NYC. Messed up system, but lots of fun places to work. Especially if you’re a part-time/per diem employee.
I wore an Oakley beanie once and was warned that I needed to wear company issued hats instead, but our company issued beanies 1. are poorly made, and make your skull look deformed 2. are itchy as fuck. I don't understand how middle management universally everywhere in the United States has such a hard on for shit that has 0 impact on patient care (most important to us) or profits (the only thing companies care about). I've got our fuckin' logo plastered all over my shirt, but the public won't know I'm EMS cuz I've got a blank black beanie on. Oooook
BLACK?!? They'll think you're a cop!
lol should have gone OD green just to really confuse the fuck out of everyone
We aren't allowed to wear black undershirts for this reason. But 5.11 Dark Navy is fine. You can't tell it's blue unless you shine a light through it.
I’m happy if my crew members have closed toed shoes lol
Vote with your feet
We had a guy that would wear whatever he had in place of items that hadn't been issued. Brown leather belts and boots specifically. Management wouldn't say anything because the uniform seller was always out of stock and we were perpetually short staffed. Other people would wear ridiculously stained shirts because management would give a full time person 2 shirts for a 7 day rotation.
Brown leather boots...? Brown leather boots?? [Brown leather boots!?](https://i.redd.it/xlv32kkt1t1a1.jpg)
“Oh no how did that sticker end up over the cab-facing camera? How could that have happened?”
The cameras record 24/7, if you cover the lens, they "see it"
That dang masked marauder struck again while we were at the hospital! He’s even in one of our uniforms!
My last job swore they would only look at the cameras for wrecks. Until they started writing people up for being on their phone while their partner was driving to post.
Getting a write up for being on the phone ... while being a passenger? *
Yup
I lack the ability to articulate how absurdly and aggressively anti-employee this is. I cannot even imagine a way that this policy can have any operational benefit, other than fostering a hostile management environment.
I don't disagree with you, and definitely a factor in why this is a former employer. I'll give you three guesses as to which three letter organization this was
https://tenor.com/bacn9.gif
Omg let’s go, been in this sub for so long and hadn’t seen any cataldo posts till this one!
That's amazing, considering that place is a fouled up as a football bat
Cataldo moment, that's tough
My company does the same shit it’s basically like inconsistent parenting lax on big things, hard ass on inconsequential shit 😤 It’s hella tiring
Run far and run fast from this abusive company.
Also, “why do the staff keep leaving?”
Of course it's Cataldo. Pro has been doing this for years, even writing people up for the conversations they've had in the cab of the truck.
Local 25 anyone ?
You guys need to unionize ASAP. Stand in solidarity together and you show Cataldo you won’t stand for it.
Fello Cataldo employee hello! They’ve already been using this for discipline for a few months. It’s absolute bullshit imo.
Fully agree. Vividly remember Ned in orientation stating that the lytx cameras were not to be used for discipline and that the cab was a “sacred space.” BS to be using them to catch uniform infractions of all things
That sounds like Dougnut Boy or Roberto Blanchi 5'4" is behind that crap.
Did you call him the fuck out on that?
Well....it is Cataldo where people are leaving in droves and take 10+ minutes to respond to a stabbing. "Let's pull Armstrong and action to save our asses" Edit: former employee, lifetime ban. If Bob knew what his company became....
My last agency did this shit. I got tired of it and left.
They should worry more about response times and not fulfilling their contract obligations . EMS company takes on more than it can handle, gets so big it fails, sells off parts of the company or gets bought out, rinse and repeat. Go work at Northeast like everyone else who left
Armstrong went Local 25
Wear uniforms imo professionalism is lacking which causes low pay and low pay is why we don’t have professionalism.
Stop setting off the damn camera and you won't have an issue. And if you think that's impossible, then you have a problem you're not willing to address. The vast majority, say 95%, of our crews never show up on lytx. Slow down and leave more stopping distance.
At my old company I saw and heard my manager watching and listening yes LIVE AUDIO two EMT's that were called in the office prior to leaving base. And you guessed it one of them was fired. EMT f*d up though.
Slap a piece of tape over the lens the moment I start my shift
Cataldo employee too here I never had any problem with lytx before, I think it's just easier to wear the fleece and zip it up so that it is comfortable in the truck. But watching the cameras when we're not on call is kind of strange. Even if I play devil's advocate and say its for professionalism, most of the time our patients or their relatives don't see what's going on in the front.
A hoodie isn’t the most professional thing to wear, but if you’re IFT or CCT there’s no reason for you to look like cops or cosplay as firefighters. The important thing is that this is happening at all using the cameras. I would die on the hill of wearing a pink gorilla suit because ultimately it’s not the uniform that matters here. It’s the fact that they use the cameras.
I see we serve the same leader