Bus driver sues after being fired for urinating off bus

MOUNDSVILLE – A former Marshall County Schools bus driver, fired for urinating from a school bus, is suing the school board, saying he has a medical condition that causes uncontrollable urges to urinate.

Thomas E. Geho filed a lawsuit March 31 in Marshall Circuit Court.

Geho, of Moundsville, says he began working for the Marshall County Board of Education as a bus driver in 1985. He's been a bus driver up until he was fired on March 26, 2008.

Geho, in his complaint, says he was assigned on March 1, 2008, to take students from John Marshall High School to Wheeling Park for tennis practice.

While he waited on the bus for the students to finish practice, he developed the urge to urinate, the complaint says.

Geho says he tried to get into a nearby building to use a bathroom, but the doors were locked. When he got back to the bus, he says the urge to urinate was so strong that he began to wet himself.

"Having no alternative, Mr. Geho tried to finish urinating as discretely as possible while standing in the stairwell of the bus, but was seen or partially seen by a witness who was in a parked car in the vicinity," the complaint says.

Geho says he had developed "significant health problems" prior to the incident which caused bouts of urinary urgency. He said he saw a urologist on March 14, 2008 and had follow-up testing on March 19. He claims the board of education was aware of his problems prior to his suspension, and then termination by Superintendent Alfred Renzella on March 26.

Geho alleges the school board discriminated against him because of his urinary problems and his age.

He is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. Nicholas A. Wininsky is representing the plaintiff.

Marshall Circuit Court case number: 09-C-48