The high court’s refusal leaves in place lower court rulings that Snohomish Regional Fire & Rescue could not reasonably accommodate firefighters who sought religious exemptions from Washington’s 2021 COVID-19 vaccine mandate without undue hardship

By Paige Cornwell
The Seattle Times

SNOHOMISH COUNTY, Wash. — The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from eight firefighters who sued Snohomish Regional Fire & Rescue after they were placed on leave for refusing Washington’s 2021 COVID-19 vaccine mandate, citing religious reasons.

With the Supreme Court not reviewing the decision, an appeals court ruling remains in place that said the Snohomish County fire agency was within its rights to deny accommodations for the unvaccinated firefighters to stay in their roles. Attorneys representing the eight firefighters petitioned the Supreme Court in April to reverse that ruling.

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“We are certainly disappointed in the outcome, but we are still going to be here to continue fighting for religious freedom,” Cliff Martin, senior counsel for First Liberty Institute, said Monday in an interview.

Under then-Gov. Jay Inslee’s vaccine order, the state’s firefighters, health care workers, state workers and education employees were required to be vaccinated against COVID by October 2021. The Snohomish firefighters were allowed to request accommodations based on their “sincerely held” religious beliefs, according to court documents.

The fire agency said it couldn’t accommodate the firefighters who requested exemptions without imposing an undue hardship, in part because of the potential health and safety costs of having unvaccinated first responders who work with vulnerable patients. The eight firefighters alleged their employer violated federal and state employment discrimination laws when it wouldn’t grant them the accommodations.

Fire stations across the state dealt with resistance over requirements that employees be vaccinated against COVID, which has killed at least 1.2 million people in the U.S. since the first outbreak was reported in a Kirkland nursing home in 2020, according to the World Health Organization.

The self-nicknamed “Snohomish Eight” filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in 2022, seeking backpay for the time they were on unpaid leave, and unspecified damages.

A district court sided with Snohomish Regional Fire & Rescue, as did a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel that said the fire agency couldn’t have reasonably accommodated the firefighters without undue hardship.

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