XPost: seattle.politics, alt.law-enforcement, or.politics
XPost: ca.politics, alt.economics

This strikes me as a quite egregious case.
COVID hit, and everybody shut everything down.
Except the police and fire fighters had to keep working,
out mixing with the public and the ill.
They did so willingly taking their chances.
For almost a year they did not have any vaccines
available, but they kept working.
Then vaccines became available (with some risks) and
most got the shot. Some did not.
But, the authoritarian Democrats in charge of Washington
and Seattle wanted to prove they could force all
employees to bend to their demands.

from
https://mynorthwest.com/local/covid-19-vaccine-seattle/4065567

Former employee sues city of Seattle for retaliation over COVID-19
vaccine mandate process
Mar 20, 2025, 2:00 PM | Updated: 3:31 pm

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BY MYNORTHWEST STAFF
MyNorthwest.com
A former Seattle city employee has filed a lawsuit against the city,
alleging wrongful termination, religious discrimination, and retaliation
after he was fired for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine despite receiving a religious exemption.

Brett J. Rogers, a former police officer for the Seattle Police
Department (SPD) and operations manager for the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT), claims the city violated his constitutional
rights by denying him due process and failing to accommodate his
religious beliefs. In the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for
the Western District of Washington, Rogers argues Seattle’s handling of vaccine exemptions unfairly targeted employees with religious objections
and that, after he complained about the process, he faced retaliation.


“The City rescinded its vaccine mandate within 12 months of the date of Rogers’ termination, and Rogers’ position was still vacant,” the complaint states. “Had defendants performed job searches for employees
with religious exemptions, Rogers could have, and should have, been reinstated.”

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Allegations of religious discrimination
Rogers, who worked for the city for over 20 years, was granted a
religious exemption from the vaccine requirement in October 2021, after
going through the process twice. However, instead of allowing him to
continue working remotely, as he had for months, the city ultimately
fired him in April 2022.

According to the lawsuit, the city of Seattle routinely accommodated
employees with medical exemptions but denied similar accommodations to
those with religious exemptions.

“Defendants established a policy and practice where very few, if any, employees with religious exemptions would be accommodated, yet provided accommodations to employees with medical exemptions,” the lawsuit alleges.

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A flawed process
Rogers contends that the city’s process for evaluating exemption
requests was flawed from the start.

When he initially applied for a religious exemption, the city
provisionally denied his request without asking follow-up questions,
despite a policy that he thought was supposed to allow for an
interactive process.

“The City apparently had established some sort of pre-determined and undisclosed criteria for evaluating exemption requests,” the lawsuit says.

Rogers says that when he complained about the process, city officials retaliated against him. He says that after he complained to then-Mayor
Jenny Durkan and other officials in October 2021, he was excluded from
key meetings and decision-making processes.

“Following that complaint, the City subjected Rogers to a series of
adverse employment actions,” including stripping him of responsibilities
and sidelining him from contract negotiations, the lawsuit alleges.


‘Pattern of retaliation’
Rogers argues his termination was part of a broader pattern of
retaliation, alleging that the city deliberately avoided reinstating him
even after lifting the vaccine mandate in early 2023.

He later discovered that his former position had been posted for hire
just days before the mandate was rescinded, but he was never informed of
the opportunity. When he inquired about returning to work, he was told
only that “separated employees are able to apply for open positions.”

Beyond discrimination and retaliation, the lawsuit contends that Rogers’ firing violated his right to due process under the 14th Amendment. The complaint states that the Seattle Civil Service Commission (CSC) failed
to provide him with a meaningful appeal, instead referring his case to
the Seattle Office for Civil Rights (SOCR).

“During the nearly three years since the City terminated Rogers’
employment and 20 months since CSC referred Rogers’ appeal to SOCR, no administrative appeal hearing has been held,” the lawsuit contends.


Rogers seeks reinstatement or financial damages for lost wages,
emotional distress and other costs. Rogers is also asking the court to
declare Seattle’s civil service appeal process unconstitutional as
applied to his case.

Seattle city officials did not respond to a request for comment. Rogers
is represented by the Pasco-based Silent Majority Foundation via
attorney and former Attorney General candidate Peter Serrano.





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