GUY LUCAS
The High Point Enterprise, N.C.
(TNS)
HIGH POINT — A High Point firefighter claims that the High Point Fire Department mistreats firefighters who are involved in union activity and that he has been threatened with firing for speaking to elected city officials about firefighters’ pay and working conditions.
Robert Templeton of Greensboro, who has been a member of the fire department since July 2000, accuses city and fire department officials in the lawsuit filed Aug. 9 in U.S. District Court of a pattern of anti-union and retaliatory behavior that violates firefighters’ civil rights.
High Point officials have not yet filed a response to the lawsuit.
Templeton contends that his supervisors considered his work to be exemplary until he was elected president of the local chapter of the International Association of Fire Fighters in January 2023 and began to advocate publicly, including by contacting city leaders directly rather than just fire department leaders, on such issues as pay, working conditions, equipment maintenance and work scheduling.
“In response, Defendants have disciplined Templeton, disparaged his character, and have now threatened to terminate his employment unless he stops fighting for the rights, safety, and wellbeing of HPFD fire fighters,” the lawsuit says.
This past May 28, Templeton met with several fire department leaders and Angela Kirkwood, the city’s director of human relations, and was told to stop violating the chain of command by speaking to city officials, the lawsuit says.
“Throughout the meeting, the High Point representatives repeatedly emphasized that because Templeton is an HPFD employee, he can only discuss concerns which reference or relate to HPFD with his HPFD supervisors,” the lawsuit says, and he was told that any further violations could result in him being fired.
The lawsuit seeks an injunction protecting the rights of Templeton and others to publicly advocate, and it seeks compensatory and punitive financial damages.
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