Snohomish firefighters petition Supreme Court over COVID shot mandate
Eight firefighters who sued Snohomish Regional Fire & Rescue after they were placed on leave because they wouldn't comply with the 2021 COVID-19 vaccine mandate, citing religious reasons, have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their case.
Attorneys representing the eight Snohomish firefighters filed a petition Thursday asking Supreme Court justices to reverse a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that said the fire agency was within its right to not provide accommodations for the firefighters to remain in their roles. The appeal to the nation's highest court follows years of litigation since the group's discrimination lawsuit was filed in 2022.
The self-named "Snohomish Eight" were among the state's firefighters, health care workers, state workers and educational employees required to be vaccinated against COVID by October 2021 under then-Gov. Jay Inslee's order. The fire agency issued a vaccine mandate to its firefighters but allowed them to request accommodations based on their "sincerely held" religious beliefs, according to court documents.
Of the agency's 192 firefighters, 46 requested exemptions, including the eight firefighters in the lawsuit. Those seeking an exemption requested they be allowed to stay in their jobs while wearing masks, testing for COVID and following the same safety guidelines they had throughout the pandemic.
Resistance over the COVID shot played out in fire stations across the state, including departments that had been among the first in the nation to care for COVID patients in early 2020. The firefighters' reasons included religious beliefs prohibiting any vaccines, concerns about potential side effects and frustration over what they considered government overreach.
In October 2021, the agency said it couldn't accommodate the firefighters without imposing an undue hardship in part because their roles were public facing and there weren't alternative positions. The employees who had requested exemptions were encouraged to use their accrued paid leave days, then take a one-year leave of absence. The fire agency notified the employees on leave in May 2022 that they could return to their roles, provided they follow health guidelines.
The eight firefighters filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington later that year, alleging their employer violated Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employment discrimination, and Washington's Law Against Discrimination. They sought backpay for the time they were on unpaid leave, and unspecified damages.
A district court judge sided with Snohomish Regional Fire & Rescue in 2024 and dismissed the firefighters' claims. A Court of Appeals panel, too, sided with the fire agency, which declined to comment Thursday.
Plaintiffs fail to provide any evidence that their proposed accommodation would have been a reasonable alternative to vaccination," Circuit Judge Jay S. Bybee wrote. "Although Plaintiffs' declarations state they were 'able to safely perform (their) job' and 'never transmitted (COVID) to another employee, co-worker, or patient, or member of the public,' these general assertions are unsupported by any medical evidence and would be impossible to prove at trial.
The firefighters are represented by the First Liberty Institute, Williams & Connolly, the Church State Council and Jennifer Kennedy.
"Punishing first responders because of their religious beliefs is not only despicable, it's illegal," said Cliff Martin, senior counsel for First Liberty Institute, in a news release.
The First Liberty Institute represented a former high school football coach in Bremerton whose case was heard by the Supreme Court; the justices in 2022 sided with the coach, saying he could legally pray on the field with his players and other students under his First Amendment rights to free speech and free exercise of religion.
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