CHARLESTON — The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals found that a woman was not wrongfully terminated from her employment as she alleged in her complaint.
"There does not appear to be any causal link between petitioner’s statement and her termination, which did not occur until more than one year later," the memorandum decision states. "While petitioner argued, and the circuit court agreed, that temporal proximity was not the only proof or factor to be considered to infer that retaliation had occurred, the evidence presented below clearly demonstrated that petitioner offered no real evidence, direct or circumstantial, from which the court could infer a causal link."
The court ruled that those who reported the wrongdoing remain employed at Hampshire Center and even if the plaintiff could state a case for retaliation, the claim fails because the respondents have shown that the petitioner was terminated for a legitimate, non-retaliatory reason — her poor job performance.
"Thus, we find that the circuit court did not err in granting respondents’ motion for summary judgment on this claim," the decision states.
Angela Metcalf was employed by the Romney Health Care Center, which is known as Hampshire Center, first as a licensed practical nurse and then as a registered nurse from 1993 until 2017. During her employment, she received several disciplinary notices for poor job performance in her final five years with the center.
Metcalf was suspended on Jan. 22, 2017, after she failed to provide pain medication to a resident with cancer who had recently had surgery, had an order for pain medication and who had requested the pain medication. Her employment was terminated four days later after an investigation into the issue was done.
Metcalf filed a lawsuit against the center and its administrator on Nov. 2, 2017, alleging that she was fired because of her age and that the claim that she hadn't given the pain medication in a timely manner was pretextual.
The circuit court disagreed with this claim and Metcalf then appealed to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court agreed with the circuit court's findings.
"Based upon the record before us, we do not find that the circuit court abused its discretion in denying petitioner’s Rule 60 motion and we refuse to disturb this order on appeal," the opinion states.
The Supreme Court affirmed the circuit court's decision.
West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals case number: 20-0354