MOUNDSVILLE — A Wetzel County man is suing his former employer and personnel, alleging retaliation and wrongful discharge.
Jeffrey Fox of New Martinsville filed a complaint Oct. 14 in Marshall Circuit Court against Eagle Natrium LLC, Axiall Corp., Westlake Chemical Corp., Jerry Mullens, Randy Bechman, Robert Feldmeir, Larry Bergstrom and Jeffrey Wilson, alleging they violated West Virginia public policies.
According to the complaint, in October 2014, as a result of an accident in which employees were sprayed with a caustic solution that ended up killing a man, Fox was suspended with pay. The suit says he was fired Oct. 20, 2014, due to an alleged violation of the Axiall, Natrium lock-out-tag-out (LOTO) procedure, in which he alleges he was never informed how he violated the procedure.
The plaintiff alleges the defendants wrongfully scapegoated and terminated him to shield the corporate and individual defendants from personal liability from the incident and attempted to limit the apparent causes of the tragic incident to simple human error.
Fox seeks trial by jury, compensatory and general damages in an amount to be determined at trial, pre-judgment interest, attorney fees and court costs and all other appropriate relief. He is represented by attorney Nicholas A. Wininsky of Wininsky Law Offices in Pittsburgh.
Marshall Circuit Court Case number 16-c-197