Lawsuits: Everett allowed fire trainer to continue after abuse claims

EVERETT — The city of Everett faces a slew of new lawsuits alleging it allowed a trainer at the fire department to stay on despite sexual harassment complaints.

In the lawsuits filed last week in Snohomish County Superior Court, four Everett firefighters claim Chau Nguyen subjected them to repeated sexual harassment as recruits. The complaints allege Nguyen sexually harassed at least seven recruits.

In a statement, a city spokesperson said: “The City of Everett has and remains committed to providing a workplace free of harassment and discrimination.” The city does not comment on open litigation.

Nguyen did not immediately respond to a request for comment this week.

These are the latest complaints filed against the city after another firefighter, Keanan Metcalfe, alleged Nguyen harassed him while he was training to work for South County Fire in a lawsuit filed in November.

Before the lawsuit, Metcalfe reported Nguyen.

In an interview with Everett fire officials and the city’s Human Resources director, Nguyen acknowledged some of Metcalfe’s allegations were true and apologized, according to the investigation. However, Nguyen reportedly said some of his behavior was taken out of context. He also said he was trying to ease the recruit’s tension.

Everett HR Director Kandy Bartlett found Metcalfe’s complaint was substantiated. She deemed Nguyen’s behavior inappropriate. Since he was new and leadership had commended his work, Nguyen was ordered to receive verbal coaching and counseling, Bartlett wrote in her report.

That counseling included descriptions of the power dynamic between trainers and trainees, according to a June 2022 report Bartlett wrote to the state Department of Health. Nguyen acknowledged he understood the dynamic.

In a later email, the fire department’s assistant chief noted Nguyen would “strive to treat future probationary firefighters with respect and be cognizant of the potential for misunderstanding that might be created by attempts at humor.”

But the complaints continued.

After numerous other allegations were lodged at him, Nguyen, who was hired by the Everett Fire Department in 2018, resigned last year. A city investigation found he “engaged in unethical and unprofessional behavior towards probationary employees.”

The new quartet of lawsuits take issue with Nguyen continuing to work at the Snohomish County Fire Training Academy and conducting training onsite in Everett long after Metcalfe complained about his inappropriate behavior.

Mallory Allen, the attorney for all of the firefighters, said in an email “the City had numerous opportunities to do the right thing, and failed each time.” She added city officials “brushed the problem under the rug.”

“Had the City taken the 2019 complaint seriously, none of this would have occurred,” Allen said. “Instead, they failed to investigate — not even interviewing the complainant — and continued to permit Nguyen to have supervisory authority. The harassment that they endured was open, obvious, and so frequent that there is no conceivable way the City was not aware of it. In 2021, there was another complaint that Nguyen was mistreating probationary firefighters. Again, Nguyen was not terminated and continued to harass his subordinates.”

The plaintiffs, all of whom are men, reported Nguyen used his leadership position to intimidate recruits. As probationary employees, they feared losing their jobs for complaining or denying Nguyen’s alleged advances.

The claims range from flirtatious remarks, to comments about a trainee’s appearance to touching without consent. They all say his harassment was constant.

For example, one recruit alleges Nguyen squeezed his inner thighs. Another claims Nguyen kissed him on the cheek. Yet another says Nguyen touched his bottom and groped his groin, according to the lawsuit.

The trainer invited recruits to his home for stretching or massages, according to the lawsuits.

After training, some of the firefighters had to continue working closely with Nguyen, according to court documents. One felt ill when he saw he had a shift with Nguyen, said Allen, of Seattle law firm Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala.

On one occasion, while one of the men sat in an ambulance, Nguyen reached his hand through the window and rested it on the firefighter’s thigh before moving it up to the groin, according to court papers.

On another occasion, Nguyen laid on top of another plaintiff while in bed in the sleeping quarters he shared with Nguyen, the complaint alleges.

All of the men dealt with extreme stress because of the harassment, Allen said.

“They all continue to struggle with the impact of the harassment, including trusting that the City has their best interests at heart,” she said. “Firefighting is stressful enough — these young firefighters did not need to endure harassment on top of everything else.”

Jake Goldstein-Street: 425-339-3439; jake.goldstein-street@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @GoldsteinStreet.