01/26/2008
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Morning Sentinel staff photofrom the Kennebec Journal
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from the Morning Sentinel
In the early morning hours of Feb. 2, 2007, Clinton volunteer firefighter and first responder Katherine "Kait" Billings donned her emergency gear and joined crews from five towns battling a house fire off Route 100 in Clinton.
As a result, Billings, 30, did not report for work that morning at the Community Care agency offices in Skowhegan, where she was employed.
For that, according to a lawsuit filed by Billings in Kennebec County Superior Court this week, she was fired.
The lawsuit could be the first test of a Maine law passed in 2005 that aimed to protect volunteer firefighters when they are late or absent from their regular jobs because of a fire emergency.
Community Care is a Maine nonprofit corporation offering social and mental health services to foster children and foster parents. The company has nine offices throughout Maine and operates Bridge Home in Oakland and ADAM (Adolescents Developing and Maturing) House in the Bangor area.
Bangor attorney Brent Singer, who is the clerk and registered agent for Community Care, said the company has not yet been served notice of the legal action.
"We don't know what the complaint is, so it's hard to respond," Singer said Friday. "We don't have a copy of the complaint, so it's not feasible for us to respond intelligently."
He deferred questions to Community Care Executive Director Kate Davis. Davis said the company has not received documents on the case and therefore cannot respond to the specific charge.
"We've received absolutely zero notice of this," Davis said. "We terminate an employee only when it's something we have to do."
The lawsuit, filed on Wednesday, seeks back pay, compensatory damages and attorney fees. It states that Katherine Billings' firing was in direct violation of Maine law, which protects volunteer firefighters from discharge or disciplinary action if they are absent or late for work because of an emergency response to a fire call.
"It's the first one I've heard of, certainly in this area," said attorney James A. Billings of Augusta, who represents Katherine Billings but is not related to her.
He said the fire to which his client responded was a big one and kept crews busy into the early morning.
"The call went out at 1 a.m.," he said. "They were there all night fighting the fire. It was a huge structure fire on Bangor Road."
The blaze destroyed the home of Scott and Denise Towers, owners of The Pet Place on Moosehead Trail in Newport. The couple lost all of their belongings in the fire, including two pet cats.
Fire officials said 15 firefighters from Clinton were joined at the scene by crews from Burnham, Canaan, Fairfield and Pittsfield. Billings was among the firefighters.
Billings notified Community Care that she would not be able to report to work because she responded to the fire, the lawsuit states.
"I didn't go in that day. I used a sick day," Billings said Thursday. "We were released from the fire station at 9 a.m. and I called them at 7:30 (a.m.) My first visit (for work) would have started around 10."
Katherine Billings said in the year she was employed by Community Care, she was absent only three times, including the Feb. 2 fire in Clinton.
James Billings said the 2005 Maine law is clear in such cases. He said his client seeks reinstatement of lost benefits, costs and any other remedies that would return his client to the position she would have been in had the firing not taken place.
Katherine Billings was earning $11.50 per hour working 40 hours a week as an employee at Community Care prior to her dismissal.
She said she has been a firefighter since 1990, the last six years with the Clinton Fire Department. She now works as an emergency medical technician in Portland and works per diem for Delta Ambulance and Sebasticook Valley Ambulance Service.
Billings said she was inspired to work in the fire service by her father Dean Billings, who is assistant fire chief in Pittsfield.
Doug Harlow -- 861-9244
dharlow@centralmaine.com
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