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FDNY EMS workers are suing New York City over alleged retaliation for speaking about responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The four EMS workers filed a federal lawsuit against the city Wednesday, NPR reports. The suit accuses the city of violating the workers' First Amendment and due process rights.

According to the lawsuit, three FDNY paramedics received letters from the department in late April telling them that they were restricted from treating patients. No reason was given in the letters for the restricted status, which does not allow workers to qualify for overtime or work for other EMS units in New York City's 9-1-1 area.

Along with being put on restricted status, EMT John Rugen was first suspended without pay for 30 days by the department, according to NPR. The department alleged that Rugen, an officer with the FDNY's EMS union, allegedly violated its social media policy and patient privacy laws.

"The FDNY respects the First Amendment rights of its employees but those rights must be carefully balanced to respect the privacy rights granted under the law to patients receiving emergency medical care," Nicholas Paolucci, a spokesperson for New York City's law department, told NPR in an email.

Paolucci would not comment on the specifics of the lawsuit to NPR.

A lawyer representing the EMS workers said his clients did not violate patients' privacy. Some of the workers in the lawsuit had been giving interviews to news outlets during the pandemic in order to promote the work of EMTs and paramedics while the union is in contract talks.

"If the fire department isn't really motivated by its interest in stopping the union from publicizing what's going on in the streets, then it would behoove the fire department to tell these individuals exactly what they think they did wrong and give them a chance to say something because these folks are the heroes of the city,"  Terry Meginniss, one of the attorneys in the lawsuit, told NPR. "These are the people who go out and treat people, and they have been living through incredibly difficult times."