PRINCETON – A former manager of Standard Exterminating Co.’s Princeton office says she was fired after requesting back pay for time off for surgery.
Ileta Beth Combs filed against the company, Wendal Brown and Robert Person in Mercer Circuit Court, citing violations of the Wage Payment Collection Act and retaliatory discharge.
According to the complaint, Combs was off work for surgery and recuperation from Dec. 18, 2014, through Jan. 4 and for additional recuperation from Jan. 6 to Jan. 20. The suit says when Combs returned to work on Jan. 20, she had only received unused vacation pay for 2014, rather than the sick pay she is claiming and additional wages.
After her inquiries to Standard’s general manager, Brown, and company president, Person, failed to release the funds, Combs filed a complaint with the West Virginia Division of Labor for $3,150 in back pay. Upon informing Brown of the complaint, Combs says she was immediately fired.
Combs seeks punitive damages, compensation for unpaid wages and commissions totaling $152,962. She is represented by Derrick W. Lefler of the Princeton law firm of Gibson, Lefler & Associates. The case has been assigned to Circut Judge Omar J. Aboulhosn.
Mercer Circuit Court case number 15-C-210