WHEELING – A Wheeling woman alleges she was terminated from her position at the Ohio County Assessor's Office because she had campaigned for the office.
Katrina Anne Taylor filed a complaint on Sept. 5 in the Ohio Circuit Court against Ohio County Commission, Tiffany Hoffman and Michelle Powell alleging violation of her First Amendment rights.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff was hired as a part-time data collector by the Ohio County Assessor's Office in September 2007 and eventually was promoted to real estate office manager in 2013. The suit states that in the November 2016 election, the plaintiff ran against Hoffman for the office of the assessor. She alleges that when the defendants learned she was running for the position, they created a hostile work environment.
The suit states the plaintiff was terminated in March for her "mistakes" and that documentation was not provided outlining the alleged errors.
The plaintiff holds Ohio County Commission, Hoffman and Powell responsible because the defendants allegedly terminated the plaintiff for political reasons in retaliation.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks judgment against the defendants in an amount that exceeds the minimum jurisdictional limits of the court, compensatory damages, interest, court costs and any further relief the court grants. She is represented by Erika Klie Kolenich and Karl Kolenich of Klie Law Office in Buckhannon.
Ohio Circuit Court case number 17-C-253