Attorney General Mayes Sues City of Tolleson Over $15,000 Firefighter "Exit Penalty"

PHOENIX — Attorney General Kris Mayes today announced a lawsuit in Maricopa County Superior Court against the City of Tolleson, challenging a policy that requires newly hired entry-level firefighters to pay the City $15,000 if they leave within three years. The Attorney General’s Office also filed a motion for a preliminary injunction asking the court to immediately halt the City’s enforcement of the policy while the case proceeds.

Tolleson requires new firefighters, as a condition of employment, to sign what the lawsuit calls the Firefighter Training Repayment Agreement Provisions, or “TRAP.” The agreement demands a flat $15,000 from any firefighter who leaves within three years of being hired, whether the firefighter served three weeks or nearly three years. According to the complaint, the City of Glendale, which runs the 13-week fire academy Tolleson’s recruits attend, charges participating agencies no more than $4,500 per recruit, and gives agencies a credit for each training officer they send to help teach the program.

“Firefighters run toward danger to protect our communities. They should not be trapped in a job by a $15,000 bill that bears no relationship to what their training actually costs,” said Attorney General Mayes. “Arizona law does not allow an employer to dress up a penalty as a reimbursement, and it does not allow a city to seize the wages its firefighters have earned. We are asking the court to stop this practice now.”

Tolleson hired Sean Krienke as an entry-level firefighter in September 2023 and required him to sign the TRAP agreement. According to the lawsuit, the City pays substantially less than most Phoenix-area fire agencies, and in 2024 the Department’s fire chief told firefighters that the City would no longer enforce the agreement and that those with fewer than three years of service were free to leave.

Krienke left Tolleson on August 1, 2025, to join the Goodyear Fire Department. When his final pay arrived, the payout for his accrued vacation time came through as a check for zero dollars. Tolleson withheld $2,473.15 from his final pay and sent him an invoice demanding an additional $8,776.85. According to court filings, when Krienke protested in writing and asked the City to itemize the charges, the City did not provide an itemization.

“We were told, in front of the whole department, that the City wasn’t going to enforce this agreement and that anyone who wanted to leave was free to go,” said Krienke. “Then my vacation payout came back as a check for zero dollars, followed by a bill for nearly nine thousand more. Tolleson’s $15,000 TRAP fine appears arbitrary and lacks documentation. When I asked the City to show me exactly what it was charging me for, I never got an answer.”

Krienke did not need to repeat fire academy training when he joined Goodyear, because both Departments belong to the same Regional Automatic Aid System.

“I’m not asking for anything special,” Krienke said. “I’m asking that firefighters get paid what they earned, and that nobody coming in behind me has to choose between their career and a $15,000 bill.”

“The actions of the City of Tolleson have done more than harm firefighters. Their actions have made the City and its residents less safe,” said Dan Freiberg, President of the Professional Fire Fighters of Arizona. “Tolleson’s pay, benefits, and working conditions are substantially lesser than their counterparts throughout the valley. This has created a revolving door that every firefighter in the Valley is familiar with. Almost every Valley department has an ex-Tolleson firefighter working for them. It simply doesn’t happen the other way around. Tolleson’s solution to this problem has never been an effort to improve, but rather charge blue collar, middle class firefighters for leaving. It’s not only silly, but it’s wrong - and the community suffers when they have a constant drumbeat of firefighters walking out the door.”
 
The complaint alleges that the TRAP is not a genuine effort to recover training costs, but an unenforceable penalty and a de facto non-compete agreement designed to keep comparatively underpaid firefighters from leaving for better-paying departments.

Because the TRAP’s coercive effect is ongoing, the State has asked the court to act before the case is resolved. The motion asks the court to bar Tolleson, while the case is pending, from enforcing or collecting on any TRAP agreement, including the invoice sent to Krienke; from withholding or deducting wages based on the TRAP; and from requiring any current or prospective firefighter to sign one. It also asks the court to order the City to stop all TRAP-related collection communications and to hold any wages or payments already collected in a segregated account until final judgment.

The lawsuit was filed under the Attorney General’s authority to enforce Arizona’s wage laws, with authorization from the Industrial Commission of Arizona. The case is State of Arizona ex rel. Mayes v. City of Tolleson, in Maricopa County Superior Court. Assistant Attorney General Stephen Silverman in the Attorney General’s Worker Protection Unit is handling the case.

Current or former Tolleson firefighters who signed a TRAP agreement or had wages withheld when leaving the department are encouraged to contact the Attorney General’s Office by emailing [email protected]

A copy of the complaint is available. A copy of the motion for preliminary injunction available.