Membership Start Date

A firefighter's membership in a relief association begins on the date of hire by the municipality, joint powers board, or independent nonprofit firefighting corporation, unless otherwise specified in the relief association bylaws. Relief associations may define a different membership start date in their bylaws if they prefer something other than the statutory default.

The OSA’s sample Bylaw Guides provide several options that can be used as a reference by relief associations when defining the membership start date in their bylaws. The options are identified in Article II of the Sample Bylaw Guides, which can be accessed in PDF and Word version.

Last Updated June 2025