Man claims water company guilty of age discrimination

CHARLESTON - A Kanawha County man has filed a suit against a local utility company claiming he was fired because of his age.

James A Nagy filed the suit March 19 in Kanawha Circuit Court against West Virginia American Water Company.

Nagy claims he was employed by WVAWC for 23 years when he was discharged in March 2007, at the age of 54.

According to the suit, Nagy and another older employee were terminated from their job for their alleged participation in payment of invoices submitted by a third-party independent contractor. However, Nagy claims younger employees were responsible for verifying the contractor's work as well, but were not fired.

Therefore, Nagy claims his termination should be considered age discrimination, the suit says.

Nagy claims he suffered loss of back pay, front pay, emotional distress, humiliation and embarrassment, as well as punitive damages.

Attorney Maria W. Hughes is representing Nagy. The case has been assigned to Judge Jennifer Bailey Walker.

Kanawha Circuit Court case number 08-C-544