CHARLESTON – A woman is suing Central Transport LLC after she claims it discriminated against her based on her sex.
Sandra Johnson has one year on-the-road experience and a commercial driver’s license and in 2017, she was looking for truck driving positions, according to a complaint filed Sept. 19 in Kanawha Circuit Court and removed to federal court on Oct. 25.
Johnson claims Central advertised in a job posting that it had two job positions available—the city and the line haul. Each job posting listed that applicants should have three to six months of experience.
On June 22, the plaintiff went to Central’s place of business in Dunbar and applied for the position of line haul and was told by the terminal manager that he would have to fax her application and driver’s license to the home office and appeared to do so while she was still at his office, according to the suit.
Johnson said she and the terminal manager waited for a response and he received an e-mail from the home office telling him to continue looking for applicants.
The plaintiff asked the terminal manager how many female drivers Central employed and was told they employed no female drivers.
Johnson claims the terminal manager said he wished women would work at Central, but that he was “not allowed” to hire women.
The terminal manager also told Johnson she was the only person to apply for the position of line haul, according to the suit.
Johnson claims the defendant continued to advertise for the position even after she had applied and was rejected and she believes she was not hired due to her sex.
The defendants discriminated against Johnson based on her sex and violated the West Virginia Human Rights Act, according to the suit.
Johnson is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. She is being represented by Kristina Thomas Whiteaker and David L. Grubb of The Grubb Law Group.
Central Transport is represented by Daniel D. Fassio and W. Scott Hardy of Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia case number: 2:17-cv-04216