CHARLESTON — Two former employees are suing The Chemours Company alleging that they were fired after reporting work safety violations and pollution.
The lawsuits were initially filed in Kanawha Circuit Court in April before being removed to U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia on June 25.
Paul Griffith and Donnie Ennis alleged that The Chemours Company, The Chemours Company FC and The Chemours Company TT all retaliated against them once they reported environmental safety and work safety violations, according to the complaints. The men were fired in September 2019.
Griffith and Ennis began working together in 2016 became concerned with workplace safety violations that same year. The two regularly and repeatedly reported the safety violations to the defendants.
The plaintiffs noticed cargo tank loading spots were not in compliance with DOT Hazardous Materials Regulations and they noticed the defendants failed to maintain load the shack and scales.
"Plaintiff regularly reported this violation to agents of Defendants on multiple occasions between 2016-2019," one of the complaints stated. Griffith claims the defendants failed to repair the load shack throughout his employment.
The plaintiffs claim they saw broken dikes and chemical leaks, illegal discharge of pollutants into the Kanawha River and issues with the fire and gas detection system, according to the suits.
The plaintiffs claim they were later fired in retaliation for complaining about the violations.
"Plaintiff suffered termination of employment in retaliation for his prior reports of Defendants' repeated violations of well-established public policy," one of the complaints states.
The plaintiffs believe their termination was retaliatory because another employee who failed to shut off the valve as alleged in a previous incident was not fired for that offense as they allegedly were.
The plaintiffs are seeking compensatory and punitive damages. They are represented by Laura Davidson and Jennifer S. Wagner of Mountain State Justice in Morgantown.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia case number: 2:21-cv-00368, 2:21-cv-00369
