Washington state’s COVID vaccine mandate destroyed the careers of thousands of workers who kept their faith.
Scott Carlson was a Redmond fire lieutenant who spent 18 months fighting COVID.
What Redmond did to him after he refused the vaccine goes far beyond firing a man for his faith.
Redmond Mayor Revoked Religious Exemptions Then Filled Every Available Transfer Slot
Scott Carlson was a lieutenant with the Redmond Fire Department when former Washington Democrat Governor Jay Inslee issued his statewide COVID vaccine mandate in 2021.
He and his crew had already proven they could handle a pandemic.
"We worked 18 months with zero cross-contaminations," Carlson told Fox News Digital. "We did our job very well."
Then the mandate hit.
Carlson applied for a religious exemption and was told to prove his faith was sincere.
About 10 days later, Redmond Mayor Angela Birney signed an executive order wiping out every religious accommodation for city employees.
Carlson was terminated.
He filed a federal lawsuit in December 2022, alleging the city violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act by failing to accommodate his religious beliefs and retaliating against him for requesting an exemption.
The lawsuit was later amended twice to include seven additional firefighters after each received authorization from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to sue.
A federal district court rejected their claims in December 2025, siding with the city.
The firefighters are now appealing to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
First Liberty Says Redmond Hid Job Openings From Firefighters Who Had Religious Exemptions
Carlson's attorney, Cliff Martin of First Liberty Institute, says the city didn't just deny accommodations – it eliminated every alternative.
Martin alleges that Redmond had open positions where vaccination was not required and deliberately kept that information from the plaintiffs.
"Instead, they hid those available positions from the plaintiffs and then filled them with vaccinated firefighters so that there was nowhere to transfer these unvaccinated firefighters who had a religious objection to the COVID vaccine," Martin told Fox News Digital.
That is not a bureaucratic oversight.
"No employee should have to choose between their faith and their job here," Martin said.
Firefighting was Carlson's calling.
"This is how I serve," he said. "This is how I love on the community."
Choosing Jesus cost him the work he was built for.
"I love Jesus so much that I was like, 'Hey, I'm going to follow you no matter what. I'm on team Jesus. But dang it, this is hard.'"
A spokesperson for the City of Redmond told Fox News Digital the city does not comment on pending litigation.
Snohomish Firefighters Take Their COVID Vaccine Mandate to SCOTUS While Redmond Case Moves Forward
Eight firefighters from Snohomish Regional Fire and Rescue, also in Washington state, requested religious exemptions, got punished, lost at the 9th Circuit, and took it to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court declined to hear their case in October 2026.
Trump's DOJ has expanded religious liberty protections and made clear the Biden administration's treatment of Christian workers was unconstitutional – but courts have yet to give Carlson and his fellow firefighters the relief that verdict implies.
The Snohomish Eight lost on the undue hardship argument – courts accepted that accommodating nearly a quarter of a fire department's workforce posed too great a burden.
Carlson's team is raising a different argument that the Snohomish case never reached – that Redmond officials identified the available transfer slots, filled them with vaccinated employees, and made sure the door was locked before anyone noticed.
The EEOC investigated more than 10,000 charges challenging COVID vaccine mandates – evidence that what happened in Redmond was not a local mistake but a nationwide pattern.
Redmond didn't just fire eight Christians – if those allegations are proven, city officials trapped them.
That is not a COVID policy.
That is anti-Christian discrimination dressed up in emergency powers – and the 9th Circuit is about to decide whether it gets away with it.
Sources:
- Rachel del Guidice, "Firefighter who battled COVID on front lines says he lost career for refusing vaccine: 'I'm on team Jesus,'" Fox News Digital, November 5, 2026.
- First Liberty Institute, "Snohomish Eight Ask U.S. Supreme Court to Correct Ninth Circuit's Misapplication of Title VII," First Liberty Institute, April 2026.
- EMS1, "Supreme Court declines to hear case of Wash. firefighters fired over vaccine mandate," EMS1, October 6, 2026.
- First Liberty Institute, "Is COVID really over? Many of its legal side effects linger," First Liberty Institute, 2026.
- McDermott Will & Emery, "EEOC actions underscore employers' religious accommodation policies," October 2025.
