BECKLEY – A Greenbrier County man says he was fired after he refused a supervisor’s request to have sex with his wife.
The supervisor then retaliated by stranding the man, his wife and two-year-old daughter on the side of the road in New Mexico.
Sheldon Russell Brown and Hannah Brittany Brown filed their complaint March 4 in federal court against Asplundh Tree Expert and Luke Martin.
According to the complaint, Sheldon Brown worked for Asplundh in January 2020 when he was assigned to a long-term tree removal project in Northern California. Martin was his direct supervisor. Sheldon Brown worked on the project until April 2020. Hannah Brown and their daughter traveled there to visit her husband while he was working.
The complaint says Martin messaged Sheldon Brown and asked to speak with him. So, Brown went to Martin’s hotel room. Martin asked Sheldon Brown for permission to have sex with Hannah Brown. Sheldon Brown refused the request and says Martin hit him in the kidneys.
Brown went back to his room, but Martin continued text messaging him trying to persuade him to let him have sex with his wife.
Until the project was completed the next week, Brown says Martin shunned him during work hours. Then, they headed back to West Virginia in a caravan of commercial and private vehicles.
“While plaintiffs and their daughter were traveling back from California to West Virginia, all of the employees stopped their trucks on the side of the road in New Mexico,” the complaint states. “At this time, defendant Luke Martin approached the plaintiffs and told Mr. Brown that ‘he was done.’ And that plaintiffs could not travel back with defendant employees.
“Defendant Martin told the plaintiffs that they need to find their own way home.”
The complaint says Martin and the other Asplundh employees abandoned the Browns. One Asplundh employee, Bobby Moody, drove the Browns back to the hotel where they had stayed the night before. Another co-worker, Russell Redden, still was at the hotel. He drove them back to Ohio, and the Browns then rented a vehicle to get back home.
When Sheldon Brown contacted Martin about future projects, Martin told him h was fired for unauthorized use of a company vehicle.
Brown says he did notify some Asplundh employees about Martin’s conduct, but he says Martin also believed Brown reported him for subjecting him and others to longer work conditions by exceeding the limit of how many hours they are required to drive in one day.
The plaintiffs accuse the defendants of, among other things, termination in violation of substantial public policy, retaliatory discharge, violating the West Virginia Human Rights Act, illegal discrimination, sexual harassment and hostile work environment.
They seek general, compensatory and punitive damages. Shelton Brown seeks damages for lost wages, front pay, back pay, lost compensation, fringe benefits, out-of-pocket costs, expenses, back wages, liquidated damages, reinstatement and/or front pay, court costs, expert witness fees, attorney fees and other relief. They also seek pre- and post-judgment interests.
The Browns are being represented by Abraham Saad, Hoyt Glazer and Eric Anderson of Glazer Saad Anderson in Huntington.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia case number 5:22-cv-00118
