CHARLESTON – A woman is suing McDonald’s after she claims her employment was wrongfully terminated and she was discriminated against based on her age.
J.W. Ebert Corporation, Kerri Vanderbilt and Bradley Pennington were also named as defendants in the suit.
Betty Tignor was employed at McDonald’s from approximately Sept. 29, 1992 through Dec. 20, 2016, according to a complaint filed Nov. 9 in Kanawha Circuit Court.
Tignor claims while employed with McDonald’s, she was named crew member of the year approximately 10 to 12 times.
After 24 years at the Elkview location, Tignor was transferred to the Dunbar location after flooding affected her McDonald’s location, according to the suit.
Tignor claims she and other co-workers were subjected to age discrimination that unreasonably interfered with their work performance and created an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.
The plaintiff was discriminated against in whole or in part because of her age and in favor of substantially younger employees at McDonald’s, according to the suit.
Tignor claims the defendants terminated her employment without warning, falsely alleging that she had stolen a sandwich, despite her decades-long history of exemplary service with McDonald’s.
Part or all of the defendants’ motivation for discharging the plaintiff was because of her age, according to the suit.
Tignor claims the defendants’ conduct against her created an offensive, intimidating and hostile work environment, interfered with her work performance and caused her severe mental anguish and emotional distress.
The plaintiff was wrongfully discharged for pre-textual reasons and was constructively replaced by a younger employee, according to the suit.
Tignor claims Vanderbilt repeatedly took coffee from McDonald’s without paying for it and Pennington took food without paying for it, but neither were terminated. She claims this conduct was the same in which she was falsely accused of doing.
The plaintiff was also denied raises for approximately four years that went to substantially younger employees, according to the suit.
Tignor claims the defendants violated the West Virginia Human Rights Act and caused her emotional distress, mental anguish, embarrassment, humiliation and other damages.
Tignor is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. She is being represented by John Einreinhofer of the Law Offices of John Einreinhofer.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 17-C-1549
