By admin 
TOLLESON, AZ (AZFamily) — Arizona’s attorney general has sued the City of Tolleson over a policy that she says unfairly traps new firefighters in the job.
Read more 13 News rides along with DPS for Operation Desert Guardian
Attorney General Kris Mayes’ lawsuit against the City of Tolleson cites a policy requiring that newly hired entry-level firefighters pay the City $15,000 if they leave within three years.
She’s asking a court to immediately halt this policy while the case proceeds.
“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,” Attorney General Mayes said in a release.
She said Tolleson makes new firefighters sign what she calls Firefighter Training Repayment Agreement Provisions (TRAP) in order to be employed. This agreement demands a $15,000 fee if a firefighter leaves the department within three years of being hired.
Mayes added that the City of Glendale runs the training program which Tolleson firefighters complete, and that program charges agencies no more than $4,500 per recruit. It also gives agencies a credit for each officer they send to help train in that course.
The lawsuit points to Sean Krienke, who was hired as a Tolleson firefighter in September 2023, when he signed the TRAP agreement.
Mayes’ lawsuit says Tolleson pays substantially less than many other Valley fire agencies. A social media post from the department in September advertises $21.97-$30.76 per hour for new lateral firefighters.
The attorney general said the department’s chief in 2024 told firefighters they would not enforce the agreement any longer, freeing firefighters to leave within three years of their hiring.
Mayes said Krienke left the Tolleson Fire Department on Aug. 1, 2025, and joined the Goodyear Fire Department. She said when his final paycheck arrived, his accrued vacation time came out as $0.
“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,” Krienke said in a release from the attorney general’s office.
Read more 91-year-old kidnapping victim rescued after high-speed chase in Yuma, police say
The City allegedly withheld $2,473.15 from Krienke’s final pay and sent him an invoice for another $8,776.85. Mayes said when Krienke asked the City for an itemized list of charges, the City denied it.
She said Krienke did not have to go back through fire academy because both departments use the same training 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.”
Dan Freiberg, president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Arizona, said the policy not only harms firefighters, but it also makes residents of Tolleson less safe.
“Tolleson’s pay, benefits, and working conditions are substantially lesser than their counterparts throughout the Valley,” Freiberg said. “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.”
Mayes said the policy is not an effort to recover training costs, but instead to keep underpaid firefighters from leaving for better-paying departments in the Valley and elsewhere.
Mayes’ office has asked the Maricopa County Superior Court to put a pause on the TRAP policy and collections, including the invoice sent to Krienke, while the legal process is completed.
See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.
Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.
Read more New Arizona poll shows Democrats leading in several key races