Jury hears lawsuit accusing KCFD of discrimination and retaliation this week

A jury trial is underway this week involving a lawsuit filed by a Kansas City fire captain who alleges he was a victim of retaliation after reporting what he said were mismanagement and discrimination practices within the department.

Anthony Seymour, who has been with the Kansas City Fire Department for more than two decades, filed the lawsuit against the City of Kansas City in May 2024 in Jackson County Circuit Court.

The lawsuit alleges unlawful retaliation under the Missouri Human Rights Act and unlawful whistleblower retaliation. Seymour seeks actual damages in excess of $25,000 for each of the two counts.

“Defendants failed to make good faith efforts to enforce policies to prevent discrimination and retaliation against its employees, including Seymour,” the lawsuit says.

The city has denied all claims, saying in a Dec. 19 court filing that “any disciplinary action taken against the Plaintiff resulted from Plaintiff’s own violations of City policy.”

In its filing, the city asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit and award the city the costs and attorney fees it incurred in defending the case, along with “any further relief the Court deems just and appropriate.”

The trial is taking place as KCFD employees await an announcement on who will become the next fire chief. The search for a new leader began when Fire Chief Ross Grundyson announced last fall that he would retire in January.

The city named three finalists for the position in December and held a public forum to introduce them. The three were all external candidates from Houston, Orlando and Washington, D.C. But sources within the fire department told The Star that city leaders had received strong pushback from the community because there were no internal candidates, women or minorities among the finalists.

Seymour’s lawsuit says that throughout his employment with KCFD, he met or exceeded the expectations of all of his positions and received positive reviews.

But in 2020, it says, Seymour contracted COVID-19 during the early stages of the pandemic and continues to experience symptoms associated with “long COVID.” The condition affects his breathing and lung capacity, the lawsuit says, and he was on intermittent medical leave through much of 2020 and 2021.

Criticized and ‘nitpicked’

When medical professionals advised him to limit his exposure to fire and smoke, the lawsuit says, Seymour applied for a transfer from Station 47 to Station 16, which is near Kansas City International Airport and tends to have fewer fire calls than most other KCFD stations.

Seymour’s bid was successful, and he was transferred to Station 16 in July 2023, the lawsuit says. But soon after he began working there, it alleges, Seymour noticed that he was being criticized and “nitpicked,” often in front of others, and “significantly more” than other employees.

The lawsuit also says that KCFD employees assigned to Station 16 “were expected and required to be trained to respond to certain types of airport and aircraft emergencies, as a backup to the primary KCI airport fire station.” The employees at Station 16 received a 5% additional pay differential in recognition of the extra training and responsibilities, it says.

The city received funding from the Federal Aviation Administration or a similar agency to provide the airport-related training to Station 16 employees, the lawsuit says. But it alleges that when Seymour asked then-Battalion Chief Todd Covington when he and other employees would receive the training, he was told it wasn’t going to happen.

“Surprised, Seymour indicated his understanding that the training was mandatory for Station 16 employees,” the lawsuit says. “Covington told Seymour to ‘just be thankful’ for the five percent pay differential he and his fellow Station 16 employees were receiving, and encouraged him to drop the issue.”

Seymour believed that the failure to provide the training “is a violation of law, rule, regulation, or policy, constitutes mismanagement, and is a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety,” the lawsuit says.

Seymour also believed that giving extra pay to employees for airport-related training, along with KCFD receiving federal funding for that training without providing it, is a violation of the law, “and constitutes mismanagement, a gross waste of funds or abuse of authority, and a waste of public resources,” according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit says Seymour repeatedly reported those concerns to numerous fire department officials and to the FAA.

“Upon information and belief, the FAA has an open investigation into the issue,” the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit also alleges that because Seymour hadn’t received airport-related training, he was ineligible to take on extra shifts at the KCI airport fire station. But Covington and others involved in the decision not to provide airport-related training to Station 16 employees were picking up the shifts at the KCI airport fire station themselves, the lawsuit says.

“After Seymour began reporting the above described concerns, the excessive nitpicking, criticism, and other mistreatment worsened,” the suit alleges.

Covington filed his own lawsuit against the city on Nov. 10, alleging that he was the victim of racial discrimination.

According to his lawsuit, “Defendant subjected Covington to race discrimination by subjecting him to racial slurs including being called a ‘Red A--,’ ‘Injun b------,’ and ‘blanket a--,’ and by creating and maintaining a hostile work environment based on his race and membership in the Choctaw tribe.”

Covington’s lawsuit says that “Captain Seymour” was the source of some of those slurs and that in late May 2024, “Seymour falsely told one of Covington’s team members that Covington was being investigated by the FBI for embezzlement and that there were pictures of him doing cocaine on a boat and with strippers.”

Covington alleges that fire department officials failed to address his concerns and that he was retaliated against for filing a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission about the discriminatory treatment he’d been receiving. His lawyers told The Star in November that he was eventually fired from the department.

Altercation at an accident scene

Seymour’s lawsuit says he also reported his concerns about the airport training to another battalion chief, but he “told Seymour to stop discussing the subject and threatened him that bad things would happen if he continued to discuss or disclose his concerns.”

In 2023, the lawsuit says, Seymour’s team tried to respond to a call about a vehicle accident but couldn’t locate it, so they went back into service. Soon after that, it says, they saw flashing lights and went to the site, where a Missouri Highway Patrol officer was helping a motorist who had hit a deer.

When they arrived, the lawsuit says, the battalion chief who had warned Seymour to stop talking about his concerns regarding the airport training got on the radio and, knowing other fire department employees could hear, told the dispatcher that Pumper 16 “can’t follow directions” and the employees “don’t know how to do their job.”

The battalion chief was overreacting to a misunderstanding over which radio channel Seymour was monitoring, the lawsuit says. After he began assisting at the accident scene, Seymour was approached by another fire captain who had been traveling with the battalion chief. Seymour asked the captain to let the battalion chief know that he had never been told to switch to a different radio channel, according to the lawsuit.

Moments later, it says, the battalion chief was “furiously charging towards him in an extremely aggressive manner and with facial expressions indicating considerable rage.”

The battalion chief “got unreasonably close to Seymour, and while just inches from Seymour’s face and while aggressively shaking his pointed finger at Seymour, screamed at Seymour multiple times, ‘You are a f------ idiot!’” the lawsuit says. The battalion chief “continued to aggressively gesture and scream at Seymour, all while remaining unnecessarily and uncomfortably close to Seymour’s face,” it says.

The battalion chief then screamed that no one had wanted Seymour to transfer to Station 16, the lawsuit alleges.

Excessive scrutiny continues

Seymour feared that the battalion chief “was about to physically assault him,” the lawsuit says, adding that “Seymour’s own considerable restraint, calm under pressure, and attempts to deescalate the situation are likely the only reason such a physical assault did not happen.”

According to the lawsuit, the Highway Patrol officer witnessed the incident, and it also was captured by a camera on the patrol cruiser. But before Seymour could file a report about what had happened, the lawsuit alleges, the battalion chief “made a pre-emptive report against Seymour, falsely alleging that it was Seymour who had instigated the interaction and used extremely heated words.”

The battalion chief provided two witnesses to back up his version, the lawsuit says. One was a relatively new employee who was under the battalion chief’s direct supervision, and the other was a firefighter who, at the time, was “under investigation and facing likely discipline himself for an unrelated physical altercation.”

The lawsuit says the fire department took the statements of the battalion chief and his two witnesses at face value.

“In contrast, the Fire Department has refused to seek out or obtain statements or any information from others on the scene, including other members of Seymour’s team, a tow truck driver who was present, or even the Highway Patrolman,” it says. “In fact, the Fire Department has even refused to request the video footage of the incident, which was recorded by the Highway Patrolman’s cruiser.

“Instead of considering the evidence easily available to it and wrapping the matter up, the Fire Department’s ‘investigation’ into Seymour remains unresolved nearly a year later.”

Because of his fear of additional retaliation and the failure to resolve the investigation, the lawsuit says, Seymour requested that arrangements be made so that the battalion chief would not be in his direct chain of command.

The request, the lawsuit alleges, was summarily denied.

“Seymour has continued to be excessively scrutinized, and has been unjustly ‘written up’ or had fact finding ‘investigations’ initiated against him repeatedly since he returned from his intermittent leaves, transferred to Station 16 on account of his long Covid, and began reporting and disclosing the failures to train Station 16 on airport-related matters,” the lawsuit says.

Judy L Thomas

The Kansas City Star

816-234-4334

Judy L. Thomas joined The Kansas City Star in 1995 and focuses on investigative and watchdog journalism. Over three decades, she has covered domestic terrorism, clergy sex abuse and government accountability. Her stories have received numerous national honors.