Former Richfield assistant fire chief sues city, claiming retaliation

A former Richfield assistant fire chief filed a lawsuit against the city last week, claiming he was fired after calling attention to a colleague who violated the department's residency requirement.

Shea Chwialkowski had served in the Richfield Fire Department since early 2014, and as assistant chief from 2021 until he was fired early this year.

The city of Richfield declined to comment, and Chwialkowski's attorney did not respond to phone messages.

According to the complaint filed May 16 in Hennepin County District Court, Chwialkowski notified Richfield Fire Chief Mike Dobesh that another firefighter was living farther than 10 minutes from the city, violating department policy. A department review of all firefighters' residencies flagged the same firefighter's address, according to the complaint. That firefighter was placed on leave and fired in December.

Chwialkowski's lawsuit alleges other firefighters started giving him the cold shoulder, and that he was suddenly shut out of department leadership meetings and emails.

In early February, according to the suit, Chwialkowski was placed on leave. Dobesh told Chwialkowski he had received a complaint "so terrible that he wanted to fire him immediately," the suit reads, but Dobesh and the city human resources manager would not say what the complaint was about.

A few weeks later, according to the suit, Richfield's human resources manager told Chwialkowski that "serious misconduct" had been discovered during an investigation. Chwialkowski was fired in late March.

The suit claims Chwialkowski was never disciplined in the Richfield department before he was fired, and was never put on a performance improvement plan.