Volunteer Emergency Worker Accommodations

Moraine Valley Community College understands the importance of volunteer emergency workers and will reasonably accommodate any student who is a voluntary emergency worker regarding absence from class caused by the performance of their duties as a voluntary emergency worker.

Volunteer emergency worker means:

• a person who serves as a member of a fire department of a fire protection district, municipality, or other unit of government on other than a full-time career basis;
• a person who serves on a volunteer basis and is licensed under the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Systems Act as an Emergency Medical Responder (EMR) (First Responder), Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), Emergency Medical Technician-Intermediate (EMT-I), Advanced Emergency Medical Responder (A-EMT), or Paramedic (EMT-P), or a volunteer ambulance driver or attendant, and the person does not work in one of these capacities for another fire department, fire protection district, or governmental entity on a full-time career basis; or,
• a person who is a volunteer member of a county or municipal emergency services and disaster agency pursuant to the Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act, an auxiliary policeman appointed pursuant to the Municipal Code, or an auxiliary deputy appointed by a county sheriff pursuant to the Counties Code.

It is the responsibility of the student to notify their instructors of any absences necessitated by the performance of their duties as a volunteer emergency worker, in accordance with the following procedure:

1. A student who is unable to attend class or to participate in any assignment, examination, or other course requirement on a particular day, due to the performance of their duties as a volunteer emergency worker, must notify their instructors in writing as soon as possible.

1. Upon receipt of such written notification, it is the responsibility of each faculty member to provide the student with an opportunity to make up any assignment, examination, or other course requirement the student may miss due to the absence.
2. An absence due to volunteer emergency worker responsibilities does not relieve a student from responsibility for any part of the course work required during the period of absence. In addition, faculty policies regarding course attendance vary widely; students are responsible for knowing these policies and for communicating any anticipated or actual absences for volunteer emergency worker responsibilities to each of their instructors.
3. A student who believes that they have been denied reasonable accommodations in accordance with this procedure should first express their concerns to the instructor and try to resolve the situation informally. If the situation is not resolved informally, the student may appeal in writing to the faculty member’s dean, using the Academic Complaint form that is available on the Moraine Valley website and on the MVConnect Portal.

This procedure complies with the Volunteer Emergency Worker Higher Education Protection Act.