Plaintiff Thomas Habel began working for the department in 1982 and was promoted to lieutenant in 2000. In 2002, he likewise began to voice concerns about the need for more personnel, stricter enforcement of training requirements and more safety education. When assisting Meerschaert in conducting CPR classes in the community, he expressed those concerns to the public. Habel claimed that after the township began to receive adverse publicity, he started to experience incidents that he described as harassing. He and Meerschaert weren't invited to the department awards ceremony honoring those who served 20 years or more, though both had done so.

On Jan. 16, 2003, Habel was at the station when Ahonen arrived. He said that Ahonen interrupted Habel's conversation with another firefighter and declined to respond to Habel's greeting. When Ahonen was leaving the station, Habel said, “Chief, you drive careful out there.” Later that same evening, Habel was suspended. Ahonen later filed a police report against Habel for threatening violence relating to the driving remark. According to Habel, no one conducted an investigation or questioned him about the incident.

Habel also worked as a deputy sheriff for the township, but he was reassigned to a territory outside the township, reportedly at Brennan's insistence. Habel further reported that he had been intensely embarrassed by being ordered to wash fire trucks, an assignment reserved for those of lower ranking.

Plaintiff David Herczeg started as a probationary firefighter in November 2001 and was a paid-on-call employee still in probationary status at the time of these events. In late 2002, he was on duty when a Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigator arrived. Herczeg said that a command officer approached him and a coworker and instructed them to hide any unmarked chemicals, but Herczeg declined to do so. Herczeg said that after this incident, Ahonen ignored him. Although a written evaluation of his work was satisfactory, Herczeg was terminated several months later without explanation.

Plaintiff Geoffrey Smith was hired as a part-time firefighter in February 2000, and he experienced no problems with Ahonen during the first two years of his employment. Smith said that in the fall of 2002, he also became concerned about safety training, staffing and response time for the firefighters. He talked to reporters and residents about the MIOSHA incident involving the chemicals. His name appeared in numerous newspaper articles, where he was cited as speaking to safety concerns, the need for a more advanced fire department, a lack of personnel, and how and where he believed that the township was wasting tax dollars. He also assisted in the preparation of the fliers that were sent out to residents.

Smith contended that after these events, Ahonen also treated him differently. He said that his number of runs was limited, Ahonen shunned him, his accessibility to dispatch was restricted, he did not receive new keys to the station when the locks were changed, and charges were continually brought against him.