Bias lawsuit in FLDS firing may finally be going to trial

A federal discrimination lawsuit filed against a business linked to the Fundamentalist LDS Church appears to finally be headed to trial.

Shem Fischer is suing a Hildale cabinet-making shop, claiming that he was unfairly and illegally fired because he and another shop employee were no longer members of the polygamous sect. They were replaced with faithful FLDS members, Fischer's lawsuit against Forestwood Co. says.

"Fischer was also told that unless he reformed the beliefs he presently had and returned to beliefs and practices in the FLDS Church, he would not be rehired by Forestwood," Fischer's attorney, James Stewart, wrote in the lawsuit filed in 2002.

Attorneys will meet today for a final pre-trial conference to hammer out any issues before the case finally goes to trial beginning March 9. Attorneys for both sides did not return calls seeking comment Wednesday.

The case has moved slowly through Salt Lake City's federal court over the years. In 2004, Fischer amended his lawsuit to include the FLDS Church and its current leader, Warren Jeffs.

"By virtue of their direction and instruction to adherents of the FLDS faith to cease all association, business, employment and economic relationships with non-adherents, the FLDS Church, Jeffs and Forestwood not only caused Fischer to be discharged from his position with Forestwood, but also placed Fischer on a black list of persons with whom adherents to the FLDS Church … should stop trading, should cease employment relationships, and should end all contracts and contact," the amended complaint said.

The federal court docket shows that Jeffs defaulted on the lawsuit, but Forestwood Co. denied any wrongdoing. In 2006, a judgment was entered in favor of Fischer against Jeffs and the FLDS Church, but the lawsuit was tossed against Forestwood. Fischer appealed and his discrimination claim against Forestwood was reinstated.

Over the years, Fischer has fought to claim the money he says he is owed. In 2007, Fischer's attorneys waded into the evidence seized when Jeffs, who was a fugitive on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list, was arrested in a traffic stop outside Las Vegas. They served the FBI with court papers seeking some of the items found in the Cadillac Escalade that Jeffs was riding in, including cell phones, iPods and cash.

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