PINEVILLE — A Wyoming County woman is suing Family Dollar Stores, a company where she worked for seven years, claiming the defendant fired her after she filed a workers’ compensation claim.
Rachel Tolliver filed a lawsuit Feb. 5 in Wyoming Circuit Court against Family Dollar Stores of West Virginia Inc., alleging a violation of state law prohibiting the termination of persons seeking workers’ compensation benefits.
According to the complaint, Tolliver was opening the Family Dollar store she managed in Oceana on Jan. 25, 2015, when a masked assailant attacked her and robbed the store. During the attack, Tolliver claims she was struck by a door and locked in a utility closet.
The suit says the robbery left Tolliver with physical and mental injuries for which she sought treatment and filed a workers’ compensation claim. She was receiving short-term disability payments and was unable to work after the attack, according to the suit. On March 22, 2015, Tolliver claims a representative of Family Dollar called on the phone, terminating her for “personal reasons.”
Tolliver seeks a jury trial, damages of $250,000 for emotional distress, $500,000 in punitive damages, and other damages for lost earnings of $820 a week since the incident. She is represented by attorney David G. Thompson of the Thompson Law Office in Pineville.
Judge Warren McGraw has been assigned to the case.
Wyoming Circuit Court case number 16-C-12