The leader of a far western Kentucky firefighters union chapter is suing city officials in Paducah, claiming they violated his rights under the First and 14th Amendments – as well as federal and state labor laws – by terminating his job with the Paducah Fire Department.
Last month, the Paducah Board of Commissioners unanimously voted to fire Nathan Torian following a marathon public hearing looking into allegations that he exhibited insubordinate behavior with multiple Paducah Fire Department leaders, among other claims. Torian, who was a captain with over 20 years of experience working for PFD, has led the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 168 chapter since 2017.
In a lawsuit filed in federal court on Monday – which names Paducah’s mayor, city commissioners, city manager and fire chief as defendants – Torian’s attorneys claim that city officials retaliated against the longtime firefighter for actions he’s taken in his role leading the union that represents dozens of other local firefighters.
According to the lawsuit, Torian is seeking to be reinstated to his old position and rank. He’s also seeking compensation for monetary damages that have come as a result of his termination.
Torian’s attorneys did not reply to a request for comment.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the City of Paducah said that the local government was “aware” the suit had been filed but that it does not comment on active legal matters. Despite that, the statement added that the city “[looks] forward to vigorously defending against the allegations.”
City unlawfully retaliated against Torian, attorneys say
Torian’s attorneys argue that his termination is, in part, a response to action against the city he took in his role leading the local union – including filing several grievances over the past few years. They also allege that the City of Paducah retaliated against Torian for taking concerns about potential wage and Collective Bargaining Agreement violations to Kentucky’s Education and Labor Cabinet.
Retaliating against employees for taking part in protected activities – such as filing complaints – is illegal under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and the Kentucky Wage and Hour Act. Torian’s attorneys argue that the city violated his right to free association by punishing him because of actions he took as a union leader.
Between 2022 and 2025, Torian filed three grievances alleging that the City of Paducah violated its CBA with the firefighters’ union.
In 2022, Torian filed a grievance on behalf of the union and aggrieved members alleging that the city violated its collective bargaining agreement with local firefighters over a change in sick leave policy. According to the lawsuit, in August of that year, city officials “unilaterally changed its sick leave policy” without union input and enforced the new sick leave policy retroactively – disciplining multiple Local 168 members for actions taken before it was enacted.
Torian’s attorneys allege that Paducah Fire Chief Steve Kyle later called the IAFF Local 168 president and berated him for filing the grievance, saying that Torian “f—d up” the relationship between the city and the union, and that there was “no turning back” for Torian.
Torian later submitted a complaint to the City of Paducah’s Human Resources department alleging that PFD leaders were subjecting him to a “hostile work environment” and wouldn’t consider him for promotion because of the sick leave grievances he and other union members filed.
Representing the local firefighters union, Torian applied for a $5,000 grant in 2023 to purchase equipment for PFD’s swift water rescue team. In a 2024 email to Torian included in the lawsuit, Paducah City Manager Daron Jordan expressed concern over Torian applying for the grant through the Local 168 and potentially misrepresenting the ability of the union to apply for grant funding on behalf of the city.
Replying to Jordan’s email, Torian said he did not intend to do anything wrong – but added that he needed “to know now if you are trying to prefer any type of charges on me.” Jordan then said he found that request to be “both unprofessional and insubordinate,” and added that he would talk with the fire chief and the city’s HR department on the “appropriate path forward with respect to your insubordinate behavior.”
As a result of that email chain – and a separate incident around the same time in which city officials say Torian took an “inappropriate tone” with the fire chief while responding to an incident in the field – Torian was suspended for three days without pay for exhibiting “disrespectful and insubordinate” behavior.
On behalf of the Local 168, Torian filed a grievance in March alleging that the city implemented a new policy that allows shift commanders to deny the trading of shifts between employees for any reason – which he said violates the union’s CBA. He also took that concern to the Kentucky State Labor Board.
Torian filed an employee concern form and another grievance this summer because he and two other union officers were not allowed to accompany a Local 168 member in an interview regarding a separate investigation into the fire chief. In a written response, city HR director Stefanie Wilcox told Torian that the firefighter who was being interviewed wasn’t entitled to union representation because he was not facing disciplinary action.
In May, Torian also filed a complaint with the Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet’s Wage and Hour Division claiming that the City of Paducah failed to pay him overtime between August 2022 and August 2023 – violating federal and state wage laws.
A labor cabinet investigator spoke with Kyle and Wilcox, among other city officials, in July looking into Torian’s complaint. Torian’s attorneys say he was called into a meeting the next day to discuss a June incident where he referred to the battalion chief by the wrong title.
In August – the day Torian returned from leave taken under the Family and Medical Leave Act – Kyle gave Torian notice that the PFD leader intended to terminate his job for referring to the battalion chief by the wrong rank. Torian was later presented with a statement of amended disciplinary charges outlining nine potential violations the Paducah City Commission would weigh in on.
At the October hearing, the city commission found him guilty on six of the nine charges, and voted to fire Torian.
The longtime firefighter is also involved in a separate lawsuit against the City of Paducah in state court. That lawsuit, filed in 2021, challenges a requirement for Paducah firefighters to live within 45 minutes of PFD’s station 4. That case was heard in front of Kentucky’s Supreme Court in August.
One of the charges the Paducah City Commission found Torian guilty of in a public hearing was of “disgracing” the city and the fire department by calling state Supreme Court Justice Shea Nickell following oral arguments. Torian, at the October public hearing, said he called to ask when the local union could expect an opinion in the case to be issued.
Plaintiffs say disciplinary action runs afoul of free speech rights
Torian’s attorneys also argue that the city violated his rights under the First and 14th Amendments to free speech and to petition the government.
Much of Torian’s public hearing last month centered on concerns Torian had about another PFD employee being promoted to the rank of battalion chief. In late 2024, Torian sent emails to Paducah Mayor George Bray – and later the city’s commissioners – with concerns about how employees in PFD’s fire prevention division did not need as much training or classes as those in its suppression division to get promoted. He also invited two city commissioners to a meeting with other Local 168 union members to discuss concerns some had about this promotion process.
Kyle, the fire chief, gave Torian a verbal warning for reaching out to elected officials with these concerns – saying that he violated PFD’s chain of command by taking his concerns to the city commission and not talking with his supervisors about them first.
Torian filed a grievance in response to that verbal warning, saying it was issued in violation of the CBA the union has with the City of Paducah.
In the lawsuit, Torian’s attorneys argue that the city’s conduct “unlawfully chills free and open discussion on important issues of public safety and the effective and efficient operation of the government operations” – and said city officials retaliated against him for engaging in free speech about matters of public concern.
