PORT ORCHARD — Two women firefighters are suing South Kitsap Fire and Rescue, alleging sexual harassment by a battalion chief who retired in January 2017 after the district notified him the fire chief was proposing he be fired.
An internal investigation found former Battalion Chief Michael Wernet made inappropriate and degrading remarks and actions toward the women – at times repeating them to others – and once made sexually-charged comments in front of one of the women’s children.
An internal investigation launched by the district after it received complaints about Wernet found he also made racially-tinged comments toward one of the women.
The latest suit naming the fire district was filed in September in Kitsap County Superior Court. No trial date has been scheduled and attorneys are currently exchanging documents, said the lawyer for the two women.
The suit alleges the fire district, through Wernet, engaged in a hostile work environment. The women firefighters are asking for damages and attorney fees.
In responding to the suit, attorneys for the fire district wrote that it “took prompt corrective action reasonably designed to end any alleged harassment.”
Terry Venneburg, the attorney for the two women, said Tuesday that more issues may come out as the case proceeds.
“It’s likely that his unsuitability for being a supervisor will be a significant issue in the case,” Venneburg said.
In preparing to fire Wernet, Chief Steven Wright wrote in January 2017 that some of Wernet’s denials were not credible and that during the internal investigation he denied and minimized his conduct. Wright noted that subordinates tried to speak with him about changing his behavior.
“There is no way, in this day and age, that anyone could honestly defend your statements and actions,” Wright wrote in the letter advising Wernet of the reasons that justified his termination. “There are almost daily news reports regarding this type of behavior. In fact, in many instances, agencies are being held responsible for conduct that is less insensitive than yours.”
It’s not the first time Wernet’s alleged behavior toward a woman got the fire district sued.
He was named in two U.S. District Court lawsuits filed in 2003. In those suits, a woman paramedic learned she had been reassigned away from a fire station because a lieutenant there requested he not have to work with a woman. Wernet allegedly obliged him.
Another lieutenant, a man, argued that Wernet’s decision was discriminatory. Both the woman employee and the lieutenant who stood up for her claimed in lawsuits they were subjected to harassment after they complained. The cases were joined and settled in mediation, according to court documents.
Wernet was given a verbal warning in 2002. Following that, Wernet was suspended in 2003 for 40 hours and referred to counseling when he was found to have made “harassing and retaliatory comments” about the matter.
“Your conduct was unacceptable and unbecoming a chief officer,” former Chief Mike Brown wrote in an official letter to Wernet dated May 2, 2003.
Wright said he could not discuss details of a pending lawsuit, but said documents show he intended to fire Wernet and was following procedures to do so. Those included giving Wernet notice Jan. 11, 2017 that he planned to terminate him but also giving him an opportunity to meet with officials on Jan. 18 and give his side of the story. Instead, Wright said Wernet gave notice of his retirement.
“I had to assume he had no defense to offer,” said Wright, who added that those who reported inappropriate conduct were not at fault and for him to deal with such conduct he relies on employees to tell him.
“It wasn’t anyone’s fault who reported it, it was Mike’s actions,” Wright said.
During a phone interview Wednesday with the Kitsap Sun, Wernet said he retired Jan. 20, 2017, after a 35-year career in the fire service and was unaware of a lawsuit.
“I just decided it was time for me to retire,” he said, insisting he did not resign and was not terminated. He added: “I just moved forward.”
Among the conduct attributed to Wernet were comments about genitalia to the two women, in front of one of their children. On one occasion he allegedly squirted saline in one of the women’s faces, making a vulgar allusion to a sex act.
Wernet denied making that comment or squirting the woman with saline when questioned by the attorney hired to investigate the allegations. The attorney noted, however, the two women who filed the suit and another firefighter gave similar accounts. The attorney wrote she did not find Wernet’s denial credible.
"Your apparent lack of candor with the investigator shows a lack of integrity," Wright wrote in the notice to Wernet.
The attorney who investigated the allegations, Rebecca Dean of Seattle, also heard accounts of Wernet repeating “racially insensitive” comments to one of the woman firefighters who a member of the public had referred to by skin color and “girl.” Wernet allegedly repeated these comments to others.
In his defense, Wernet acknowledged some of the comments attributed to him were out of line with anti-harassment policies but told Dean that it was his job to fit in with the crew and that such jokes were common, according to Dean’s Dec. 26, 2016, report.
“The evidence supports Wernet’s assertions, but only to a limited degree,” Dean wrote, writing that firefighters would talk about sex or attempt jokes. Two other battalion chiefs, however, said firefighters working for them knew they would not tolerate such comments and Dean wrote they were “almost never” directed toward an individual.
Wright said firefighters form strong bonds through their work but that was not an excuse for demeaning conduct.
“It’s not a family, it’s a workplace,” Wright said.
