CHARLESTON – A Kanawha County man says he was fired from his job at Bridgeport Equipment and Tool after he was injured on the job and filed a workers’ compensation claim.
James May filed his complaint in Kanawha Circuit Court against B.E.T. Ltd. and Kelly Goodpasture, general manager of Bridgeport’s Charleston location.
According to the complaint, May worked in the parts department on September 21, 2020, when he sustained a serious back injury when a co-worker improperly maneuvered a pallet of ammunition with a pallet jack. Following the incident, May went to his primary care physician the same day. The doctor prescribed physical therapy.
May began physical therapy with Dr. Richard Knapp at Boone Memorial Hospital on October 6. Knapp provided May with workers’ compensation documentation. May returned to work October 21 with a doctor’s excuse with light work restrictions.
May worked October 21 and 22, working on a computer and filling parts orders while sitting on a stool. On October 23, defendants claimed there was no light duty position for May and fired him.
May says he was discriminated against for receipt of or attempting to receive workers’ compensation benefits. He says he has suffered lost back pay, lost earning capacity, lost employment benefits, humiliation, embarrassment and emotional distress.
In addition to the workers’ compensation issue, May says he was required to clock out for his 30-minute lunch period, but he was required by the defendants to continue to work without being paid. And for about 30 months, after another employee left his job, May says he worked an hour every morning without compensation sweeping the parking lot and taking out trash before others arrived for work. He says the defendants also didn’t pay all of his wages for his last days of work by his next pay period, a violation of the state Wage Payment and Collection Act.
May seeks compensatory damages, court costs, attorney fees, pre- and post-judgment interest, lost wages and benefits, injunctive relief and other relief.
He is being represented by Lia DiTrapano Fairless of DiTrapano Law Firm in Charleston. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Carrie Webster.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 20-C-1048