CHARLESTON – A state delegate is suing Elkins Rehabilitation & Care Center for discriminating against her based on her gender.
Denise L. Campbell was employed by Elkins and during her employment she was subjected to gender discrimination, including disparate treatment in comparison to previous male administrators based in whole or in part upon her gender, according to a complaint filed Nov. 14 in Kanawha Circuit Court.
Campbell claims the conduct was unwelcome, based upon her gender and was sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the conditions of her employment and created an abusive work environment.
Elkins was aware of the gender discrimination perpetrated against Campbell and terminated her employment because she complained of the discrimination, according to the suit.
Campbell claims the defendant violated the West Virginia Human Rights Act and unlawfully retaliated against her.
During her employment with Elkins, the plaintiff was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates, which is a part-time public office and meant she would need to travel to Charleston for legislative sessions at the West Virginia State Capitol.
Campbell claims she needed time to serve in the West Virginia State Legislature and was considering running for the State Senate and was entitled to leave to serve, according to West Virginia Code.
The plaintiff was retaliated against by exercising her rights and the defendant was fully aware of her service and actively discussed it in meetings of its Board of Directors, according to the suit.
Campbell claims Elkins not only discriminated against her based on her gender, but also failed to provide her with adequate leave and discriminated against her as a member of the West Virginia State Legislature in violation of West Virginia Public Policy and statutory law.
Elkins, through its high-ranking members of its Board of Directors, attempted to penalize Campbell for her service in the Legislature and prevent her from running for part-time elected office in the future.
Campbell claims the defendant did not have any significant problems with any of the duties she performed as administrator of Elkins and the defendant had provided leave of absences and extra vacation to a previous male administrator and also created a title of Chief Executive Officer and this administrator did not provide superior performance to her.
The Board of Directors specifically indicated in a sworn testimony before an administrative law judge at a Workforce West Virginia hearing that it was concerned with Campbell’s Legislative Service taking time away from work, according to the suit.
Campbell claims on Jan. 25, 2015, the chairman of the board specifically instructed her to “clear her schedule and make herself available” while she was serving in her part-time elected office, in violation of West Virginia Code.
The defendant also attempted to intimidate her from running for West Virginia State Senate and began to penalize her and issued an ultimatum regarding her continued employment as administrator at Elkins, according to the suit.
Campbell claims her Legislature duties did not detract from her job performance because she was very dedicated to both her job at Elkins and her constituents as a member of the House of Delegates.
Campbell is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. She is being represented by John Einreinhofer of the Law Offices of John Einreinhofer.
Einreinhofer said the previous male administrator had received more benefits than Campbell had, and he was not serving in the Legislature.
“Elkins was not being fair to Denise in the terms of her legislative work,” Einreinhofer said.
After Campbell left the job at Elkins, she sought unemployment and won her unemployment case.
“Winning the case showed that she left her job under no fault of her own,” Einreinhofer said. “The administrative law judge concluded that.”
Campbell ended up running for State Senate, narrowly losing to incumbent Greg Boso.
“It was such a close race,” Einreinhofer said. “I’d like to see her run again if she chooses to.”
Campbell lost to Boso by just 897 votes—20,492 to 19,595. Mountain Party Candidate Bruce Breuninger received 1,386 votes.
Campbell is now a professor of nursing at Alderson Broaddus University.
The case is assigned to Circuit Judge Tod J. Kaufman.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number: 16-C-1710
