CLARKSBURG – A Harrison County man alleges he was terminated in retaliation by his home improvement store employer for taking intermittent leave to care for a foster child.
Joshua F. Currey filed a complaint Jan. 23 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia against Lowe's Home Centers LLC alleging violation of the Family and Medical Leave Act.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff was employed by the defendant from 2002 to 2011 and then rehired at the Buckhannon store as assistant manager in January 2014. The suit states in March 2016, the plaintiff requested intermittent FMLA leave to care for his foster son. The plaintiff states he was laid off in January 2017 and that the motivating factor for his termination was his use of FMLA leave.
The plaintiff holds Lowe's Home Centers LLC responsible because the defendant allegedly retaliated and/or discriminated against him for his use of FMLA.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks compensatory and punitive damages, pre- and post-judgment interest, attorney's fees, costs and all other remedies available to him under the FMLA. He is represented by Todd S. Bailess and Rodney A. Smith of Bailess Smith PLLC in Charleston.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia case number 2:18-cv-00009