MORGANTOWN – Two former employees are suing Monongalia County General Hospital after they claim they were discriminated against based on their ages.
Concetta Chipps and Mary Alkire worked for the hospital for more than 20 years and in 2013, the hospital began hiring new, younger workers, according to two complaints filed April 8 in Monongalia Circuit Court.
Chipps claims after Ronna Kiser was hired in the lab in 2013, she began to experience job harassment, such as being given additional work of others to do; harassing and insulting e-mails from Kiser; and her work station was moved to near a door, where there were many distractions.
Alkire claims she began to experience harassment from her supervisors, known as Megan and Leah, including overloading her by giving her the work of a recently retired employee and picking on her with comments about her not doing her job, all designed in an effort to force her to quit.
On Nov. 12, 2013, Chipps was asked to meet with her lab manager, Joyce Gacik, and was told her job was being eliminated. She was offered a job in housekeeping at minimum wage, which she refused, at which time her employment was terminated, according to the suit.
Alkire was called into a meeting on July 7, where she was asked to resign and told to write out a letter of resignation, according to the suit.
The plaintiffs claim the defendant violated its own employment policies and discriminated against them because of their ages.
The defendant violated the West Virginia Human Rights Act and caused the plaintiffs damages.
The plaintiffs are seeking compensatory and punitive damages. They are being represented by Edward R. Kohour.
Monongalia Circuit Court case numbers: 15-C-238, 15-C-239
