Bigfork Fire lieutenant faces sexual harassment allegations

    Bigfork Fire Lieutenant Sean Reffner. (Courtesy/Bigfork Eagle FILE)
  

A Bigfork Fire Department lieutenant is facing accusations of sexual harassment against female coworkers.  

The Bigfork Fire District on Monday held a due process meeting for Lt. Sean Reffner on the allegations at Bigfork High School. Reffner, a member of the Bigfork Fire Department since April 2021, was placed on administrative suspension on Sept. 18 after officials received 20 allegations of misconduct.  

Six of the allegations were sustained following an investigation. The remaining allegations fell by the wayside out of a lack of substantial evidence.  

Reffner waived his right to privacy Monday, allowing the hearing to remain open to the public. 

“Since I started at Bigfork, I have had an exemplary record where I’ve been holding people accountable and helping the department grow. And with this, I’m being portrayed as almost a predator ...,” Reffner said of the allegations.  

On June 28, Reffner was accused of making sexual comments and hand gestures to a female paramedic student from Flathead Valley Community College, suggesting that she would touch two male firefighters’ genitalia. The incident was reported to the college’s Title IX officer, which allegedly called into question the safety of sending students to work with Bigfork Fire and harmed the organization’s reputation.  

Reffner said that he used the term “skiing,” a reference to fondling the genitalia of two men at the same time, and made a hand gesture, but it was not intended to be sexual toward the student. He also allegedly did not receive report of the Title IX complaint before it was made. 

“Do I understand that it could have been sexual to [her]? Yes. But why did it take her almost three months to file a complaint?” Reffner said.  

“I will admit, I should not have made it as a supervisor, it was just the general firehouse banter,” he later added. 

Another alleged incident on May 18 involved Reffner insinuating that a female coworker was performing a sexual act with her fiancé while transferring from their personal vehicle to a department vehicle. After being confronted by said coworker, Reffner apologized, though the initial interaction remained a violation of policy.  

Reffner also allegedly accused a female paramedic and firefighter of having sex with a male volunteer photographer earlier in her career using graphic language. When confronted about his language and insinuation, she reported that Reffner responded, “Well, if you don’t like our jokes, we’re not going to want to train with you.” 

Multiple employees accused Reffner of using obscene and sexual language day-to-day in the workplace, which is prohibited by Bigfork Fire District policy. Policies also prohibit harassment directed toward a person due to gender and using obscene, indecent or derogatory language or gestures while on-duty or in uniform.  

While Reffner was on suspension, two additional complaints were filed. One alleged that Reffner contacted a department employee and stated that he would “make life miserable” for any employee that made allegations against him. Policy prohibits supervisors from retaliating against employees for filing complaints or participating in a complaint investigation. Reffner also allegedly contacted a department employee and stated, “I will burn this [expletive] place down,” in reference to the department.  

Reffner alleged that other Bigfork Fire employees also use prohibited language on-duty, an assertion he repeated at the due process hearing, which led to another charge of misconduct because, as a lieutenant, Reffner was required to report such violations, and none were documented.  

Reffner argued that others were not being investigated for similar comments or actions and alleged that he was being held to a different standard.  

“When all these things are going on, who’s the senior person on duty?” Chair Dan Elwell asked Reffner during the hearing.  

“I was. And I was trying to put a stop to it without doing any documentation and I was following the policy with oral reprimands,” Reffner replied.  

Reffner was represented by Toby Ballard, service representative for the Seventh District of the International Association of Firefighters as a union representative. 

“The investigation that was done, there were things I’ve seen in that that caused me concern,” Ballard said.  

Reffner allegedly was not consulted on some complaints listed in the report of findings and some of his testimony in the interview process was misconstrued, making it difficult to mount a defense. There was confusion as to the number of allegations, as Ballard counted 25 total.  

“That there are that many allegations that people have brought against Lt. Reffner that are unfounded is ... I don’t know how else to put it but disturbing. It’s almost character assassination at that point for people to just levy charges with no basis,” Ballard said. 

Ballard suggested violations to just cause, including charges not being factually proven, a lack of thorough investigation by the employer, others with the same allegations being treated differently, misconduct caused by inaction by the employer and work history not being taken into consideration.  

Reffner never previously received poor evaluations or disciplinary actions. He allegedly received no sexual harassment training from the department and district policy allows for supervisors to issue verbal rather than written citations.  

Reffner also alleged that he was instructed by Fire Chief Jeremy Patton that he could not contact any employees of the department following his suspension, a violation of union rights.  

Confidentiality also came into question, as allegedly others knew of the charges against Reffner before he did. Ballard reported that a document bearing testimony that was intended to have witness names redacted was accidentally sent to him including their full names.  

“My due process has been violated every step of the way through this,” Reffner said. 

Reffner brought forth three character witnesses, including two female part-time employees of the department and one male employee who previously faced similar accusations to reinforce his claims. State Sen. Mark Nolan, R-Bigfork, also spoke in his favor during public comment. 

“I believe we need to protect ladies, but we need to protect men as well. Allegations like this can wreck a family ... We have to do our due diligence and find out the facts; do our part so that a person doesn’t get burned for the rest of his life,” Nolan said.  

The Bigfork Fire District board voted to table a decision on Reffner’s case until they could individually review the information presented. A date was not set, though Elwell stated another meeting day would be selected by week’s end.  

Reffner will remain on administrative suspension with full pay and benefits until a decision is made. 

This is the second time that sexual harassment allegations have been brought against employees of the Bigfork Fire Department in recent years.  The last case resulted in a complaint filed in the offending employee’s record.  

“I’m just hoping with the information that you’re given that you’re open to the idea that there are issues and that they can be corrected. Because that’s really the point of being here, is trying to make sure that we’re pushing things forward in a positive direction,” Ballard said to the board.