WINFIELD – A Putnam County woman is suing her former employer for allegedly firing her after she took medical leave for work-related stress.
Melissa G. Napier filed a lawsuit March 21 in Putnam Circuit Court against Genesis Healthcare LLC, 590 North Poplar Fork Road Operations LLC and James McBurney, alleging violations of the state Human Rights Act and the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.
According to the complaint, when Napier returned from a week off for treatment of depression and anxiety, her supervisor, McBurney, wrote her up for failing to complete work schedules. When she complained to human resources, the suit says she was offered the choice of either termination or resigning with a severance package.
Napier says during her 10-year employment, she routinely worked in excess of 40 hours a week without overtime compensation, and that her termination violated disability discrimination laws.
Napier seeks a jury trial and punitive and compensatory damages, plus litigation costs and interest. She is represented by attorney Richard W. Walters of Shaffer & Shaffer PLLC in Charleston. Judge Joseph Reeder is assigned to the case.
Putnam Circuit Court Case number 16-C-67