International Union of Painters and Allied Trades-District Council 53; Daniel J. Poling; Brian Stanley; and Glenn McEndree were also named as defendants in the suit.
Richard Patrick was hired by IUPAT and District Council 53 on Dec. 18, 2008, and was continuously employed by the defendants until his unlawful termination of Nov. 20, 2014, according to a complaint filed Jan. 25 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.
Patrick claims Poling stated to employees of District Council 53 that IUPAT wanted to have a younger staff and, at a staff meeting in October 2014, Poling stated that he was going to hire younger organizers.
On Nov. 20, 2014, Patrick’s employment was terminated by the defendants and Poling stated in the letter directed to him that it was due to a reduction in force, however, there was not a reduction in force and it was due to his age, according to the suit.
Patrick claims another older employee was also terminated for the same reason and, after their terminations, District Council 53 hired numerous employees under the age of 40.
Later, Poling bragged about having the youngest staff among IUPAT councils, according to the suit.
Patrick claims upon his termination, he returned an iPhone and laptop that had been provided to him by the council, however, in December, changes were made to his Yahoo e-mail account that he had used the laptop to access and, upon the discovery of the unauthorized intrusion and change of his e-mail account, he corrected the unauthorized changes.
For approximately two weeks, the perpetrators of the unauthorized intrusions and changes would make new changes to the e-mail account, which Patrick would correct, until Patrick investigated the source and determined they were being made from an IP address in Parkersburg, where Stanley lived, and Patrick filed a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center, according to the suit.
Patrick claims IC3 identified Stanley and Poling as the perpetrators of the unauthorized intrusions.
The defendants violated the Federal Stored Communications Act and the West Virginia Computer Crime & Abuse Act, according to the suit.
Patrick claims the defendant’s also violated the West Virginia Human Rights Act by discriminating against him and terminating his employment based on his age.
Patrick is seeking compensatory and punitive damages with pre- and post-judgment interest. He is being represented by Mark Goldner and Maria W. Hughes of Hughes & Goldner PLLC.
The case is assigned to District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia case number: 2:16-cv-00788