Snohomish Eight

Eight firefighters in Washington State were put on unpaid leave by their employer Snohomish Regional Fire and Rescue (“SRFR”) in October 2021 after requesting a religious accommodation to be exempted from a Washington Covid vaccination mandate. The firefighters could not, in good conscience, take the vaccine. SRFR denied the firefighters’ requests for religious accommodations however, even though the firefighters submitted to various risk mitigation measures, including masking, testing, and social distancing. Further, these firefighters were put on leave even though SRFR engaged in “mutual aid” contracts with other fire departments that did not require vaccination, allowing SRFR firefighters to serve alongside unvaccinated members of other departments.

SRFR claimed that allowing the firefighters to work unvaccinated would pose an undue hardship, given possible health and safety risks, no matter that this same risk existed whenever firefighters served in mutual aid scenarios with unvaccinated firefighters. Faced with indefinite unpaid leave, the firefighters found work with neighboring fire departments within Snohomish County and districts outside the county, which had no issue accommodating them. Eight months after pulling the firefighters off the line, SRFR’s fire chief decided to bring the firefighters back to work, still unvaccinated. The firefighters resumed their jobs and continued to work unvaccinated, without causing any operational difficulties or added expense.

In April 2026, First Liberty appealed this case to the Supreme Court, asking the Justices to correct the Ninth Circuit’s misapplied Groff undue hardship test which ruled against The Snohomish Eight.

“Punishing first responders because of their religious beliefs is not only despicable, it’s illegal,” stated Senior Counsel for First Liberty Institute, Cliff Martin. “The U.S. Supreme Court made it clear in the Groff decision that employees must be granted a religious accommodation unless the employer faces ‘substantial increased cost,’ a standard that the fire department has yet to prove in this case.”

Lisa Blatt, Partner at Williams & Connolly said, “Employers must accommodate their employees’ religious beliefs unless the accommodation would actually impose an undue hardship. Allowing an employer to refuse accommodations based on a mistaken belief that accommodation would impose an undue hardship denies employees their rights.”

Alan Reinach of Church State Council said, “First responders shouldn’t have to sacrifice their faith in order to serve their communities. Groff decisively raised the bar for protections for religious employees, but the Ninth Circuit’s ruling here has lowered it.”

Attorney Jennifer W. Kennedy said, “This case reaches far beyond our eight firefighters. We’re fighting to secure the religious freedom that every employee in America deserves.”

In October 2026, the Supreme Court declined to review the case.

“Washington can celebrate today that it has taken away the religious liberty rights of our clients,” said First Liberty Senior Counsel Cliff Martin. “But government officials should take notice that we will always fight for employees of faith to have equal opportunities in the workplace. We will fight until every employee has access to religious accommodations.”