Can a municipal FD require FFII prior to employment?

[SFDredhat126]

I believe I read on here once that it is against Illinois statute for a municipal FD to require candidates to be certified FFII prior to employment/testing.

Is this true?
If so, can someone tell me where to find the statute? I've searched it online and found nothing.
Also, can a home-rule city get around the statute?

[DeputyMarshal]

Can John Q. Public walk in off the street and get certified as FFI/II in Illinois?

If not, it's a federal EOE issue.

[SFDredhat126]

Can John Q. Public walk in off the street and get certified as FFI/II in Illinois?

If not, it's a federal EOE issue.

No. You have to be a member of a FD to get certified.

[medic27205]

They can require it and it is not illegal... Any job can have certain basic requirements for the job(ie EMT-B or higher to work on an ambulance, or a nursing degree to be a nurse)

[SectorB]

This issue has been discussed around the station and at board meetings, and at one point it recommended that we remove the requirement for FF II/PM to test but give preference points to those that have it. I haven't seen the statute but there are a lot of departments up this way that require the cert to pick up the test.
As for home rule, from what I remember from a management class, the city/village has the right to make requirements as loose or strict as they see fit for the needs of the village but I can't remember if this covers hiring requirements. Also, the home rule status needs to be voted on by the tax payers and is mainly for taxing purposes.

Here are a couple links

http://www.citizenadvocacycenter.org/homerule.htm
http://law.justia.com/illinois/constitution/con7.html
http://www.ilga.gov/

[DeputyMarshal]

They can require it and it is not illegal... Any job can have certain basic requirements for the job(ie EMT-B or higher to work on an ambulance, or a nursing degree to be a nurse)

Apples and oranges. In (almost?) any state, anyone can take an EMT course or go to nursing school. In many states, however, the only way to take a firefighter certification course is to be sent there by a sponsoring fire department. IOW, you essentially have to be hired as a firefighter somewhere to be offered the opportunity to become certified as a firefighter. That's a direct conflict with federal equal opportunity laws.

It may seem attractive for a prospective employer to require firefighter applicants to already be certified but it's just asking for legal trouble down the road if the opportunity to become certified isn't readily available to anyone, IMHO.