Barre firefighters go about daily housekeeping duties in their living quarters inside the Greater Barre Public Safety Building. The privacy of personal lockers such as the one against the wall at left in photo are at issue in a lawsuit. Photo: Stefan Hard/Times Argus

BARRE – It's going from the locker room to the courtroom.

The city's unionized firefighters have asked a federal judge to determine whether City Manager Robin Bennett recently violated their constitutional rights when she opened the unlocked door to one of their lockers during a routine inspection of the Barre public safety building.

A six-page lawsuit filed late last week in U.S. District Court in Burlington names both Bennett and the city as defendants in a claim that seeks to establish firefighters' right to privacy in the public building that is their workplace.

The lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of local firefighters by Burlington attorney James Dunn, represents the latest wrinkle in a simmering dispute that was sparked when Bennett inadvertently discovered the photograph of a nude woman taped inside one of their firefighters' lockers late last month.

The discovery occurred while Bennett was inspecting the city's new public safety building days before an open house during which residents were invited to tour the newly constructed facility.

However, firefighters claim Bennett entered their "private living space" at the new fire station and "… conducted a search of (their) personal closets/lockers without notice and without any reasonable cause or suspicion of wrongdoing. That action, they contend, violated "… their right to privacy as guaranteed by the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, and Chapter I Article 11 of the Vermont Constitution."

Asked Monday to comment on the lawsuit that was filed on Friday, Bennett declined, suggesting she had only just received a copy of the claim and had not had a chance to review it.

"I really can't comment at this point and time," she said.

Firefighters also declined to comment, referring all questions to Dunn. Attempts to reach the lawyer at his Burlington office were unsuccessful on Monday.

The lawsuit recounts what firefighters believe happened after Bennett used her security pass to access the living quarters on the second floor of the public safety building on April 24.

"… Once within the (firefighters') private living space, and without any reasonable suspicion of any misconduct or wrongdoing on the part of anyone, (the) city manager proceeded to open and search the personal closet/lockers of those firefighters whose closet/lockers were unlocked," Dunn wrote.

Bennett has disputed the assertion that she "searched" any of the lockers, but has said she tested the doors to all of them prior to the open house to determine if they were locked. While closing the door to one of them she spotted the photograph of a nude woman and instructed Fire Chief Peter John to order it and any other "inappropriate" material removed from the workplace.

In the lawsuit, which among other things seeks a permanent injunction barring the city officials from "opening or searching firefighters' personal lockers … without reasonable suspicion of misconduct or wrongdoing," Dunn describes a different kind of workplace.

According to Dunn, firefighters are paid to "… eat … tend to all personal needs and sleep" when they are not responding to emergency calls during their 24-hour shifts.

"… Because of the duration of their shifts (firefighters) are provided living quarters which are private and not open to the public," he wrote. "The private living quarters consist of bedrooms, closet/lockers to store personal objects, bathrooms with showers, a kitchen dining area to prepare and eat meals, and living room space for relaxation."

Since firefighters moved to the new public safety building last October, Dunn wrote, those second-floor quarters have been "fully secured" and "inaccessible to the public."

Although Dunn acknowledged Bennett has a "security pass" to the firefighters' living quarters and John keeps a duplicate set of keys to their lockers in his office, he argued the lockers were for the personal use of individual firefighters.

"… They (the lockers) are not subject to routine inspection, and there are no rules or regulations authorizing access to or inspections of the personal closet/lockers by anyone other than the employee," he wrote, suggesting the lockers are routinely left unlocked by firefighters who are on duty, but that was not an invitation to open them.

In addition to requesting a permanent injunction that would prevent an inspection, like the one Bennett conducted last month, firefighters are seeking to recover attorneys' fees and other expenses and any other relief the court sees fit.

Allen Gilbert, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont, said firefighters might have a difficult time prevailing given the facts of the case.

"It's an interesting claim," he said. "Basically, they're saying they enjoy the same level of protection in the firehouse as they do in their own homes."

According to Gilbert, the fact that Bennett had a security pass, John kept a duplicate set of locker keys in his office, and firefighters were not asked if they were willing to have residents tour their "living quarters" during the open house, all seemed to suggest a lower threshold of privacy.

"I think they're going to have a bit of problem on this one," he said. "The burden is going to be on them to prove it's more of a private residence than a public workplace."