CHARLESTON – A woman is suing AT&T Mobility after she claims it terminated her employment and failed to pay her final wages in full.
Rick Bowenger and Gregory Mathers were also named as defendants in the suit.
Gayle Ballard was hired as a trainer on June 12, 2014, and her job was to train new employees at different AT&T locations, according to a complaint first filed June 1 in Kanawha Circuit Court and removed to federal court on Oct. 22
Ballard claims during the course of her employment, she performed her duties in a satisfactory manner and met the reasonable expectations of the defendant.
In April, the defendant requested that Ballard fly to Phoneix, Ariz., for training. She and other employees flew there and spent approximately eight days waiting on representatives of the defendants to arrive and train them, according to the suit.
Ballard claims while in Arizona, she incurred out-of-pocket expenses that the defendants promised to reimburse, however, on April 19, she learned that the defendants were not sending any representatives to Arizona and that she would need to fly back to West Virginia.
At that time, Ballard complained to the defendants that she had not been paid any wages or reimbursed for any out of pocket expenses that she had incurred, she says she received text messages from Bowenger informing her that she was fired, that she should sell her laptop to get money to fly home on, not to bother him again. The text messages contained expletives, according to the suit.
Ballard claims she forwarded the text messages to Mathers, who was Bowenger's supervisor, and he indicated he would fix the situation. However, she never heard from him again.
In reliance upon the defendants' promise to pay her wages, Ballard turned down other job opportunities, to her detriment, according to the suit.
Ballard had a duty to pay all her wages owed in full following her termination within the requirements of the West Virginia Wage Payment and Collection Act.
However, the defendants breached their duty as the plaintiff has yet to be paid or reimbursed for any expenses she has incurred while employed with the defendants, according to the suit.
Ballard is seeking compensatory and punitive damages with pre- and post-judgment interest. She is being represented by Todd S. Bailess and Joy B. Mega of Bailess Law PLLC.
AT&T is represented by Melissa Foster Bird and Kendra L. Huff of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP.
The case is assigned to District Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia case number: 2:15-cv-14269