Ex-employee faces lawsuit after failing to arbitrate

CLARKSBURG -- Teletech is seeking an injunction and summary judgment following an employee's dismissal and lawsuit against it.

Jill Clites, a Monongalia County resident, is a former employee of Teletech Customer Care Management. Upon her hiring, she signed an arbitration agreement. The arbitration agreement includes a clause that reads "disputes arising after termination of the Employee's employment by Company, which cannot be resolved within the Company, shall be submitted to binding arbitration ..."

While the reason for Clites' termination is not included in the suit, it does state that her termination took place on July 12, 2007, and that in her original suit, she does not name Teletech as a defendant.

Filed by Webster Arceneaux and Valerie Raupp of the Charleston firm of Lewis, Glasser, Casey & Rollins, the suit states that Clites is seeking more than $75,000 in her suit and that Teletech believes it has a financial stake in the resolution of her claims.

Teletech is now seeking an injunction to prevent Clites from any further participation in her suit because it believes that her lawsuit will harm the company with "additional burdens and costs...in terms of discovery, available remedies, and process." It is also hoping the court will compelClites to participate arbitration.

Filed on April 23 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia, Teletech is seeking a summary decision to decide on the existence and validity of the arbitration agreement signed byClites, a petition to stay Clites' suit pending the resolution of the arbitration, a scheduled hearing to compel arbitration, preliminary injunction to prevent Clites from continuing her suit or filing a new suit, and court costs.