Lauren Petersen records as attorney Jennifer Kennedy issues a video statement after a press conference March 14, 2024 at Snohomish Regional Fire & Rescue headquarters in Monroe, flanked by three of the eight firefighters suing their employer for religious discrimination, from left to right, Kevin Gleason, Ryan Stupey and David Petersen.
Photo by Michael Whitney.
MONROE — A statewide insurance pool that insures abut 160 cities, fire districts, and 911 centers had paid more than $275,000 so far to the attorneys defending Snohomish Regional Fire & Rescue (SRFR) in a religious discrimination lawsuit filed by eight unvaccinated firefighters. The case initiated in 2022 has gone through U.S. District Court and the decision is now being appealed to the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
The pool, the Washington Cities Insurance Authority, has spent $277,215.07 so far as of April 15, SRFR’s records office said.
“(SRFR) has not shared the cost of the litigation,” the office said.
The firefighters seek back pay and benefits. They’d sought religious exemptions to Gov. Jay Inslee’s 2021 COVID-19 vaccine mandate for frontline workers, and were placed on unpaid leave for being unvaccinated but later brought back on duty while the vaccine mandate was still in place. They say other fire agencies accommodated their firefighters more adequately.
Previously, the firefighters themselves had estimated to the Tribune this cost their families between $100,000 and $200,000 each in loss of pay and benefits. Multiplied by eight, it could be a request of between $800,000 to $1.6 million in lost pay and benefits sought from SRFR.
In 2023, the insurance pool paid out $56 million in claim and lawsuit payments for its approximately 165 members, and is handling a load of 1,800 claims and lawsuits, according to its 2023 Annual Report, the latest one publicly available. The pool’s example midsize and smaller members include the cities of Snohomish, Monroe and Lake Stevens, but not, say, any school districts nor the self-insured cities of Seattle, Everett or Tacoma, as of 2023. Snohomish Fire District 4 uses a different insurer.
