WHEELING —A Moundsville woman is suing Marshall County Commission and two county employees alleging that she was terminated from her employment for filing assault charges against another employee.
Marshall County Auditor Terry McDiffitt and Marshall County Clerk Janet Pest were the employees named in the case.
Ruth Bertrand was an indexing clerk for the county beginning in 2011 and suffered from panic attacks that impacted her ability to breathe and work, according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia.
Bertrand claims she always provided a doctor's excuse for her absences when she was absent from work, however, in 2020, McDiffit was running for reelection and Pest was participating in his campaign and both treated her unkindly after she said she would not support McDiffit's bid for reelection.
On March 9, 2020, an incident occurred wherein McDiffitt grabbed her arm, squeezed it, cursed at her and threatened her, according to the suit. Bertrand claims she filed a criminal charge of assault and battery and after doing so, the defendants refused to let her in the assessor's office and that McDiffitt was not allowed in the county clerk's office. They also informed her that she could not "work on the ballots" in the upcoming election because of "the situation."
Another incident occurred on April 15, 2020, that caused Bertrand to experience a panic attack and she was put on medical leave, according to the suit. She claims Pest insinuated that she wanted to her dismiss the charges against McDiffitt before she could return to work. She was then terminated from her employment in June.
Bertrand is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. She is being represented by Patrick Cassidy of Cassidy Cogan Shapell & Voegelin in Wheeling.
The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge John Preston Bailey.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia case number: 5:21-cv-00035