A former Baker City firefighter who said he contracted COVID-19 in 2020 as a result of his work, and who was fired in 2022 after asking the city to accommodate the lingering effects of the disease, has filed a civil lawsuit against the city, seeking $800,000 in damages.

Jason Bybee filed the suit on Tuesday, Aug. 29 in Baker County Circuit Court. He is seeking a jury trial.

Bybee is represented by Richard B. Myers, an attorney with Bennett Hartman, LLP of Portland.

Defendants in the lawsuit are Baker City as well as former city manager Jonathan Cannon, and Stacy Spriet, the city’s current human resources manager.

Spriet said Wednesday morning, Aug. 30, that she had not seen a copy of the lawsuit. Interim city manager Jon France said Wednesday he had seen the lawsuit, and that the city’s insurance company is involved. He couldn’t comment further.

On Jan. 18, 2023, Bybee filed a complaint with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries alleging the defendants violated his employment rights. In addition to asking for $800,000 in damages, Bybee, who was hired as a city firefighter in January 2013, is seeking an order requiring the city rehire him “and make reasonable accommodation of his disability.”

According to the lawsuit, after he was fired in February 2022, Bybee told city officials he was interested in an evidence clerk position with the police department. Bybee also gave the city documentation from his doctor stating that he was medically cleared to do that job, but city officials declined to hire him, according to the lawsuit.

Bybee also contends in the lawsuit that the city has not allowed him to keep the badge he received as a firefighter.

According to the lawsuit, Bybee contracted COVID-19 “in the course and scope of his work” in October 2020. He submitted a workers’ compensation claim to the city, and according to the city’s insurer, his claim was accepted as “compensable” under Oregon law.

Infected with COVID-19 while on duty

In a phone interview on Wednesday, Aug. 30, Bybee, 49, said he tested positive for COVID-19 after feeling ill for about a week. Bybee said he and other firefighters, who at that time also worked as EMTs on ambulance runs, took extra precautions, such as wearing protective equipment, while treating patients who had tested positive for the virus. But the firefighters couldn’t avoid possible exposure.

Bybee suffered COVID-19 symptoms for many months, and he did not work for most of 2021, according to the lawsuit.

In late June 2021, Bybee asked the city to make reasonable accommodations for his disability. He made several later requests that the city allow him extended leave from work or reassign him to a job he could do despite his medical issues.

According to the lawsuit, Cannon, who resigned as city manager on July 3, 2023, told Bybee that his medical condition wasn’t a disability under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act because it resulted from a COVID-19 infection.

Myers, Bybee’s attorney, said Cannon’s claim was incorrect. The determination of whether an employee’s medical condition is a disability under the ADA isn’t based on the specific ailment, such as COVID-19, but on the actual effects on the employee, Myers said.

According to the lawsuit, after Bybee asked the city about other jobs he could do for the city, such as driving a dump truck, as he has a commercial driver’s license, “the city refused to reassign (Bybee) despite having multiple available positions that were suitable for (Bybee’s) medical restrictions.”

In January 2022 Bybee submitted a new claim for what’s known as “long COVID,” as he continued to suffer from the effects of the infection.

The state workers’ compensation board ruled that that claim was compensable under state law, according to the lawsuit.

But in February 2022 the city fired Bybee, stating that the city would not extend his medical leave. The letter did say he could apply for other jobs with the city. Bybee said he did apply for the police evidence technician job, but that he never was scheduled for an interview.

In the lawsuit, Bybee contends that due to “Cannon’s and Spriet’s unlawful employment practice, (Bybee) suffered economic damages including but not limited to lost wages, impairment of future earning capacity, lost health insurance benefits, lost PERS benefits. …”

Bybee also contends that he suffered “noneconomic damages including but not limited to embarrassment, inconvenience, loss of enjoyment of life, damage to his professional reputation, deprivation of pride in his years of public service, a feeling of uncertainty for his future employment, concern for his family’s financial security, and intereference with his normal and useful activities.”

Hoped to make firefighting a lifelong career

Bybee, who has lived in Baker City for about 17 years, said he initially was hired as a part-time volunteer in the fire department.

He said he enjoyed the work so much that he took night classes and attended a two-week course in California to obtain his EMT-intermediate certification, which was required to work as a full-time firefighter with the department.

Bybee then joined the department as a full-time firefighter.

“It was a very satisfying job,” he said. “I love Baker. My goal was to stay with the department as long as I could.”

Myers said that under Oregon law, Bybee had a three-year window, after he contracted COVID-19, to either become medically able to resume his job as a firefighter, or to start a different job with the city.

Myers contends the city broke the law by firing Bybee before that three-year period ended (in October 2023) and by failing to offer him another job for which he was medically cleared, such as the evidence technician.

Bybee said he is healthier now than he was a year ago.

“It’s been a long road, over 18 months of occupational and physical therapy,” he said.

Bybee started an off road vehicle business, 4Play Performance on Broadway Street near 10th Street, more than a year ago.