CHARLESTON – A woman accused her former supervisor of forcing her to have sex with him and firing her after she eventually refused.
Crystal Ferrell filed the complaint in Kanawha Circuit Court against Michael Matthew Meadows and the company, Associated Pipe Line Contractors Inc.
Ferrell worked at Associated Pipe Line Contractors from June-October 2018. Ferrell said she was subjected to sexual advances by Meadows and others at the company, the lawsuit said, and never received a handbook or any other material that included information on how to report the behavior.
One on occasion, Meadows forced Ferrell to ride with him on her first day at a work site, and he told her he wanted to have sex with her, the lawsuit said, despite knowing she was married. Another day, a different employee told her he wanted to see her breasts, the lawsuit said.
Ferrell said she knew of another woman who had been fired for reporting sexual harassment, the lawsuit said, and she eventually gave in to his demands. She told her husband, who left her, the lawsuit said, so she continued having relations with Meadows because she feared losing her only source of income, the lawsuit said. Eventually, however, she told Meadows she would no longer have sex with him, and she was fired soon thereafter, on Oct. 1, the lawsuit said.
The defendants are accused of sexual harassment, creating a hostile work environment and retaliatory discharge.
Ferrell is seeking all reasonable sums due, attorney fees and court costs. The plaintiff is represented by Kury Entsminger of Estep Entsminger Law Group PLLC in Charleston.
The case has been assigned to Judge Tod Kaufman.
Kanawha County Circuit Court case No. 19-C-806