Seven former employees sue GC Services for hostile work environment

CHARLESTON -- Seven former GC Services employees are suing the company after they claim they were forced to work in a hostile work environment.

Jennifer Layne, an employee at GC Services, was also named as a defendant in the suit.

Teresa Coleman, Peggy Spurlock, Johnna Parker, Cecilia Koster, Patricia Glass, Sherry Clere and Nota Jean Barnes were discriminated against based on their gender and were subjected to a hostile work environment, according to seven complaints filed June 9 in Kanawha Circuit Court.

The women claim they were sexually harassed by David Harvey and Jehovah Gordon, two male GC Services employees, throughout their employment with GC Services and that managers who were present would laugh and refuse to reprimand the male employees for their actions.

The women were also subjected to retaliation for their complaints and one one occasion, several of the women's cars were keyed in the parking lot, according to the suit.

After refusing to address the plaintiffs' concerns, the women claim they were forced to quit their employment because they did not want to work in such a work environment.

The plaintiffs are seeking compensatory and punitive damages. They are being represented by Dwight J. Staples, Gail Henderson-Staples, Cheryl L. Henderson and Sherri A. Henderson.

The cases have been assigned to Circuit Judges Louis Bloom, Jennifer Bailey, Charles E. King and Carrie Webster.

Kanawha Circuit Court case numbers: 11-C-952, 11-C-953, 11-C-954, 11-C-955, 11-C-956, 11-C-957, 11-C-958