Lifeguard Fired For Saving a Life 1500 Feet From His Zone: Another Company With Liabitity Fears Chooses Money Over Life

Yep, as horrible as that sounds you read it right RHU!

And this time, it invovles one of the family members of our own!

I had just seen this headline when RHUer Hiedi, sent this note: "My nephew made the news....sadly for a very, very stupid reason.  He's one pissed off dude-"

Well I am PISSED OFF too Hiedi!

Tomas..... myself and RHU support you 100%! You are a HERO for saving that person's life! We commend you and honor you for putting a human life FIRST instead of greed of money (like Jeff Ellis and Associates - the lifeguard company that Tomas worked for did). What ever legal concerns they had about liability, they are taking too tough a stance and I am sick to death of companies who fire people that have been put in morally challenging situations where they have had to make a choice about doing whats right or keeping their job. These companies have no compassion or understanding for humans and they can take their greed and go straight to fucking hell.

 

Tomas, we on RHU are proud of you and we salute you by giving the middle finger to Jeff Ellis and Associates - they can fuck right off and return to their nasty anti-human corporate ways.

I hope you recieved many accolades and thanks that you deserve!

Freeman/Freddy

 

Here's the story sent from Hiedi, via AOL:

A Florida lifeguard has been booted from his lifeguard chair for running to save a man who was floundering in the surf.

Tomas Lopez , 21, was fired by his supervisor for vacating his lifeguarding zone to save a man drowning in an unprotected area of the beach in Hallandale Beach, Fla., on Monday, reports the Sun Sentinel.

Lopez' employer is not paid to patrol the zone where the man had been in trouble.

According to the Sun Sentinel, Lopez was approached by a beachgoer who pointed out a man struggling in the water nearly 1,500 feet south of his post.

Instinctively, he ran down the beach to save him. By the time Lopez got to him, he had been pulled to shore by fellow beachgoers.

Following his rescue attempt, Lopez was let go for leaving the area he was supposed to be covering.

Jeff Ellis and Associates, a private aquatic safety contractor, is hired by the city to patrol the beaches. The company is also in charge of hiring and training the city's lifeguards.

Susan Ellis, spokeswoman for Jeff Ellis and Associates, told the Sun Sentinel that Lopez broke company rules when he left his zone, and cited "liability issues" that may have occurred as a result of Lopez leaving his designated area.

Ellis could not be reached for further comment.

Some of Lopez's friends rallied for him on his Facebook page where he had posted the Sun Sentinel's article.

"thats messed up but im proud of you for standing up like that and doing whats right. Tomas Lopez = Hero!!" one commenter wrote.

Tom Gill, spokesman for the United States Lifesaving Association, said Lopez's firing came across as a little harsh.

"It seems unfortunate that a guard would do what he's trained to do and be fired for it," he said.

Gill said that the boundaries set by Jeff Ellis and Associates were most likely set by the city of Hallandale Beach in a private contract.

"Usually when the municipalities hire someone to [lifeguard], those organizations are not only taking on the responsibility of the job, but a lot of the liability," he said.

USLA is recognized as the authority on open water lifesaving by the Red Cross, and certifies agencies and associations around the country based on their training.

Gill said Jeff Ellis and Associates has not applied for certification with USLA, and so he could not speak on the company's regulations or training.

"As far as being fired for going outside the zone, I couldn't tell you how they could make that justification," he said.

via news.yahoo.com

Comments

[Kiddo]

This is so idiotic! He did what he was trained to do. Hell, if anything wouldn't it have been worse for the company if Tomas had ignored the man and insisted on following company rules about staying in his area?

If they absolutely had to punish him, a verbal warning would have done the job fine. Tomas Lopez did not deserve this and that company is gonna pay for it now.

[Larry Berry]

Several of the other employees have already quit in protest. My prediction is that the backlash will cause the city to contract with another company, and will end up costing Jeff Ellis and assoc. a lot of business. Tomas will likely be back working at the same beach along with the other employees that quit, but for the new contractors that the city goes with.

[Damn Yankee]

The Facebook page has been taken down, and their website ( https://www.jellis.com/ ) has no readily available contact information. It's for "clients only".

[The Last Archimedean]

The company is in the news for all the WRONG reasons. This is why supervisors need to mix common sense in and not be robots who stick to the letter of the regulations.

If, Zeus forbid, the guy in troble had drowned and they said "Our lifeguard couldn't help him because he would have been outside his zone" they would have been out of business within a day.

[Queer Geek]

Excuse me if I'm wrong here but isn't the job of lifeguard is to save lives? Where does it say that is liability issue to enter the water?

I'm thinking of the Jaws slogan.

"Just when you thought it was safe to enter the water...On second thought don't, it's a liability issue!"