Request By:
Mr. Donald Harris
Fire Chief
City of Providence
Municipal Building
Willow Street
Providence, Kentucky 42450
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of May 21 in which you raise the basic question as to whether or not a person of the age of eighteen (18) can be employed as a fireman in a city of the fourth class, where said fire department is operating under a civil service program though you indicate it presently does not have a civil service commission. Additional questions are raised as to whether or not the insurance coverage for the city would also cover an 18 year old as far as any accidents are concerned. Also, whether the 18 year old would be covered by any law regulating the working of a child such as the requirement of a work permit.
Cities of the fourth class must operate their fire department pursuant to Ch. 95 KRS, particularly KRS 95.700 etc. At the same time, a city may elect to adopt a civil service program pursuant to KRS 95.761 to KRS 95.784 which we assume from your letter has been done. Regardless, however, of whether or not the city operates its fire department with or without a civil service program under Ch. 95 KRS, the qualifications for serving as a fireman include the fact that the individual be of the age of twenty-one (21). See KRS 95.710 and KRS 95.762. As a consequence, the city cannot hire a person who is under the age of 21 to serve as fireman under Ch. 95 KRS.
For your information, a person of the age of 18 is now an adult since this age has been declared to be the age of majority under the terms of KRS 2.015. As a consequence, a person of the age of 18 otherwise employed by the city would be considered an adult and not a child and would be covered under any disability insurance program, including workmen's compensation as any other covered employe.