Kanawha Co. woman sues Big Sandy for wrongful termination

CHARLESTON -- A former employee is suing Big Sandy Super Stores, Inc., after she claims her employment was wrongfully terminated.

Kathy L. Judge was also named as a defendant in the suit.

From July 2005 until March 2, 2010, Suzanne Pozzie was employed by the defendants and performed her duties in a satisfactory manner, according to a complaint filed July 8 in Kanawha Circuit Court.

Pozzie claims during the course of her employment, she noticed several sales transactions submitted from the floor of the Southridge store that did not comply with Big Sandy policy or regulatory consumer credit protections.

The sales tickets in question were submitted with intentional and illegal overcharges; charges for items or services not purchase by customers; and/or inappropriate and unlawful charges and finance rates, according to the suit.

Pozzie claims she brought the problematic situations to the attention of Judge, her supervisor, and informed her that the sale charges were not permissible. She claims Judge instructed her to ignore the inappropriate aspect of the charges and prepare the final tickets as submitted, further advising her that store receipts and salesperson commissions would be hirer with the additional charges submitted for final ring up.

Immediately after Pozzie advised Judge that the sales transactions did not comply with required good faith transactions, consumer credit policies and could not be submitted for final accounting, Judge terminated her employment, according to the suit.

Pozzie is seeking compensatory and punitive damages with pre- and post-judgment interest and for reinstatement to her former position. She is being represented by Paul K. Reese.

The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Paul Zakaib Jr.

Kanawha Circuit Court case number: 11-C-1137