CHARLESTON — A woman is suing Gestamp West Virginia claiming she was wrongfully terminated from her employment in retalation for making complaints about an employee.
Scott Hughes was also named as a defendant in the suit.
Annie Coleman was hired by Gestamp in 2013 to fill a quality position, but then she was placed on the floor as a production associate, according to a complaint filed in Kanawha Circuit Court.
Coleman claims she was one of few women to attain the position of senior quality engineer at the facility and in 2019, she was advised by a customer that a quality manager was sharing explicit, inappropriate videos, which she reported to Luis Celuar, who was the plant director at the time.
The plaintiff also discovered the same manager had taken photos of her bending over at work and she called to meet with HR to discuss the photos. The employee was then terminated, according to the suit.
Coleman claims she spoke with the new quality manager, John Fields, in early December 2019 about her workload concerns and was told she would get the help she needed, however, on Dec. 13, 2019, she was told her work was unsatisfactory and that she was the "weakest link."
Coleman claims a week later, she was terminated from her employment. She claims the alleged complaint about her work was fabricated and she had been unlawfully terminated in retaliation for her complaints about the previous quality manager.
The defendants' actions were willful, wanton and/or grossly negligent and were a violation of the West Virginia Human Rights Act, according to the suit.
Coleman is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. She is represented by D. Adrian Hoosier II of Hoosier Law Firm in Charleston.
The case is assigned to Circuit Judge Maryclaire Akers.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number: 21-C-1173