WILLIAMSON – A Mingo County man says he was wrongfully terminated from his coal hauling job after he sustained a work injury, and he says he wasn’t paid his final wages.
Dan Kinder filed his complaint against KC Transport Inc. dba as KC Transport of West Virginia Inc. in Mingo Circuit Court. Eddie Compton also is named as a defendant in the suit.
Kinder says he worked for KC Transport, which is based in Bland, Va.,,on Aug. 8 when he was injured on the job. He slipped and fell from his coal truck, injuring his right leg. He reported the injury to Compton, his foreman. Kinder also filed a workers’ compensation claim.
He says he went to Appalachian Regional Hospital and began receiving treatment.
The next day, Kinder says he was contacted by Compton by text message and told his employment no longer was needed.
“In his termination text, Eddie Compton acknowledged that he knew plaintiff had been injured and reported the same,” the complaint states. “However, he was directed by Kenny Compton (Eddie's brother) to termination plaintiff’s employment.”
Kinder also says he was owed about $1,750 in wages that should have been paid by Aug. 15. However, he says he didn’t receive that pay.
He accuses the defendants of discriminating against him for filing a workers’ comp claim and wrongfully terminated his employment while he was off work due to a compensable injury. He also says the defendants violated the West Virginia Human Right Act by discriminating against him based upon his workplace injury disability, retaliating against him and wrongfully terminating him.
Kinder says he has suffered annoyance, inconvenience, indignity, humiliation, embarrassment, emotional distress, lost wages, lost benefits, lost future earnings, loss of capacity to enjoy life, medical expenses, pain, suffering and permanent physical impairment. He seeks compensatory and punitive damages as well as court costs, attorney fees, pre- and post-judgment interest and other relief.
He is being represented by Nathan D. Brown and Joshua S. Ferrell of Ferrell & Brown PLLC in Williamson. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Miki Thompson.
Mingo Circuit Court case number: 15-C-189