PRINCETON – A woman is suing Community Action of Southeastern West Virginia after she claims she was singled out because of her gypsy ancestry.
Dorothy Terry was hired and began working for CASE in November 2015 and worked in the defendant’s Head Start department as a cook preparing meals for children enrolled in the program, according to a complaint filed April 12 in Mercer Circuit Court.
Terry claims she worked in the kitchen with a woman known as “Ginger” who was in charge of the kitchen.
The plaintiff is of gypsy ancestry and members of her family were on the television show “My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding” which aired on television in 2012, according to the suit. In August, Ginger and some other employees discovered Terry’s gypsy ancestry and that some of her family members had appeared on the show and they spoke with her about these topics to confirm them.
Terry claims shortly thereafter, Ginger and the other employees started to report that items were missing from the defendant’s New Hope Road location, including money being taken from an employee’s purse and food items missing from the kitchen pantry and refrigerator.
Ginger and the other employees made false, harassing accusations and inferences that the missing items were being stolen by Terry because she was of gypsy ancestry, according to the suit.
Terry claims the harassment continued until sometime in October when Ginger reported missing items in the kitchen again.
“Thereafter, knowing full well about the ongoing false, shameful, harassing accusations and inferences and having conducted no investigation into the truth of any of the false, shameful, harassing accusations and inferences, Suzette, who worked for the defendant at the New Hope location, approached and reprimanded the plaintiff and handed her a criminal investigation background check form to complete,” the complaint states.
Terry claims Suzette demanded that the form be completed by the plaintiff that day and returned to her so that she could conduct a criminal background check on the plaintiff.
No other employees at the New Hope location were approached, reprimanded and given a background check form to complete or asked to undergo a check, according to the suit.
Terry claims she was being singled out, reprimanded and accused of stealing the missing items because of her gypsy ancestry and the false, shameful, harassing accusations and inferences made by the defendant’s employees.
The plaintiff was humiliated and shamed and could no longer tolerate the harassment and defamation from the defendant’s employees and management and felt she had no choice but to resign from her employment with the defendant, according to the suit.
Terry is seeking compensatory damages with pre- and post-judgment interest. She is being represented by Ryan J. Flanigan.
Mercer Circuit Court case number: 17-C-161
