Justice for Brian Kniffen
EAST WENATCHEE, Wash. (July 24, 2025) – A jury has awarded $5 million to Brian Kniffen, a former East Wenatchee Water District employee who was wrongfully terminated after suffering a job-related injury and requesting reasonable accommodations. The jury found that the public utility failed to accommodate and unlawfully discriminated against Kniffen due to a spinal injury he sustained on the job while opening a stuck water main valve. The unanimous jury found the employer violated state and federal disability discrimination laws.
“This verdict confirms what we’ve said from day one: Brian Kniffen was punished for getting hurt at work,” said Lead Counsel Beth Bloom of Bloom Law, who represented Kniffen at trial. “He was loyal, hardworking, and wanted to keep doing his job. But instead of supporting an excellent employee of almost 30 years, the Water District cast him aside to protect its bottom line.”
The jury found that rather than working cooperatively with Mr. Kniffen to pursue every reasonable way to keep a disabled employee working, as the law requires, the Water District fired Kniffen to avoid the increased insurance costs due to his injuries. Rather than purchase a powered valve turner to protect worker safety, the Water District claimed the $30,000 tool was too expensive. Evidence at trial confirmed Washington State Labor & Industries recommended the tool and offered to pay for it. Older corroded water mains can cause injuries because of the twisting torque required to open them by hand. The power tool is commonly used by other Washington utilities.
“When people don’t want to do the right thing, they don’t look for a solution-they look for an excuse,” Bloom told the jury. “This was a case of putting money over people.” The jury seemed to agree, returning a unanimous verdict on all four claims after one day of deliberation. Kniffen, a utility field inspector, spent nearly three decades working for the Water District, consistently exceeding expectations. After injuring his back in 2020, he requested accommodations limiting heavy lifting and manual valve-turning, restrictions supported by the Department of Labor & Industries. The Water District initially complied, but after internal concerns arose about the potential impact of Kniffen’s injury claims on the Water District’s insurance costs, his supervisors’ attitude shifted. In November 2021, despite multiple options for reasonable accommodation, including equipment purchase or reassignment, the Water District terminated Kniffen, claiming no reasonable accommodations were available.
“This case was never just about me,” Kniffen said. “It was about making sure no one else gets pushed out of a job just for getting injured and asking for help. I’m grateful to the jury for holding the Water District accountable.”
The trial team included lead counsel Matt O’Laughlin of Maloney O’Laughlin, and Beth Kidd and Madeline Ashcraft of Bloom Law PLLC.
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