LOGAN—A Logan County resident is suing a Delaware-based business doing business in Holden along with its maintenance supervisor, claiming violation of the WV Human Rights Act in his job termination following surgery in 2013.
James Blevins of Logan filed a lawsuit against Unilin North America LLC of Charleston and Thomas Smith of Logan in Putnam Circuit Court on June 11, claiming disability discrimination in his December 2013 termination.
The suit states that Blevins was employed by Unilin for approximately 12 and a half years as a maintenance technician. According to the filing, after undergoing hernia surgery on Oct. 31, 2013, the plaintiff was placed on short-term disability to recover and released to return to work on Dec. 8, 2013. The suit states that the defendant had instructed Blevins to train another employee to perform his tasks prior to his leave.
According to the filing, when Blevins came back to work, his time card did not work. When he contacted Smith, the plaintiff was advised that his job had been eliminated in November shortly after he was placed on disability.
The plaintiff argues that the defendant acted unlawfully by terminating him and cancelling his insurance. He maintains that Unilin’s conduct toward him was “atrocious, intolerable and so extreme and outrageous so as to exceed the bounds of decency.”
Averring emotional distress, humiliation, embarrassment, anxiety and nausea, Blevins seeks compensatory, punitive and “emotional distress” damages, attorneys’ fees, prejudgment interest and costs.
The plaintiff is represented by Richard Walters of Shaffer & Shaffer in Charleston. The case has been assigned to Judge Roger L. Perry.
Putnam Circuit Court case number 15-C-181-P