Pleasants Co. woman sues Brown Electric for gender discrimination

CHARLESTON -- A Pleasants County woman is suing Brown Electric Co., Inc., after she claims she was discriminated against because of her gender.

Shaea Tolliver, an employee of the defendant, was also named as a defendant in the suit.

Carey McCullough was employed by the defendants as a safety manager from March 24, 2008, until she was laid off on Sept. 17, 2009, and then again from Dec. 8, 2009, until she resigned from her employment on March 8, 2010, according to a complaint filed April 28 in Kanawha Circuit Court.

McCullough claims when she was laid off, a man named Scott Haynie replaced her, even though she was told there were no open job assignments.

Haynie also did not have a formal degree in the field of safety and was paid more than McCullough was, according to the suit.

McCullough claims upon returning she was told that she would not be retuning with the previous conditions of her employment, and her company car, gas card, credit card, laptop and cell phone were taken from her. She claims she was also told the defendants would no longer reimburse her for lodging when she was on required business travel for Brown Electric.

Later, Tolliver, a safety coordinator with Brown Electric, alleged that McCullough was not doing her job and that her responsibilities were falling onto her and other Brown employees, according to the suit.

McCullough claims Tolliver made other false statements about her.

The defendants discriminated against McCullough because of her gender and made defamatory comments regarding her work ethics, which damaged her reputation and professional standing, according to the suit.

McCullough is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. She is being represented by Walt Auvil.

The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Charles E. King.

Kanawha Circuit Court case number: 11-C-696