CHARLESTON–A Raleigh County resident is suing a major home improvement retail business and an employee on claims of age discrimination in the plaintiff’s recent job loss.
Brenda L. Wilson filed a lawsuit against Lowe’s Home Centers LLC of North Carolina and John Osborne of Kanawha County in Kanawha Circuit Court on Aug. 19, asserting violation of the West Virginia Human Rights Act in June.
The suit states that Wilson, who worked for the defendant for 23 years, was replaced at age 55 by a new employee 20 years her junior on or about June 19.
Claiming lost wages and benefits, indignity, embarrassment and humiliation, the plaintiff declares that the defendant’s actions were willful, malicious, and undertaken with reckless disregard or indifference, allegedly entitling her to punitive damages.
Additionally, Wilson alleges that the company failed to remit her final pay in full within 72 hours of her dismissal, in violation of the West Virginia Wage Payment and Collection Act, purportedly entitling her to liquidated damages.
The plaintiff seeks compensatory, consequential, incidental, liquidated, and punitive damages in the form of back and front pay, along with pre-judgment interest, attorney’s fees and costs. Wilson is represented by Mark Atkinson of Atkinson & Polak in Charleston.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 15-C-1583