WAYNE – A former Wayne County Schools employee has sued the county school board and its president for violating the state Whistleblower Act with retaliatory and discriminatory actions.
Howard Meddings filed his complaint in Wayne Circuit Court against the Wayne County Board of Education and President Joann Hurley.
According to the complaint, Meddings worked for the school board for 32 years until he says he was fired on April 27, 2020. Since 2011, he had served as inventory supervisor at the school bus garage. During some of his time on the job, his direct supervisor was Director of Transportation David Sammons, who is the brother of Turley.
In the summer of 2018, Meddings says he was told by Sammons to remove tiles from a building. He and several other employees did so by breaking it up with hammers. When they were cleaning the debris, Meddings says Sammons told him they could only put a small bag of the debris in the dumpster each week.
“Plaintiff became suspicious that the tiles contained asbestos and that Mr. Sammons was attempting to cover it up by illegally disposing of the debris,” the complaint states. “Plaintiff subsequently complained to his union representative about being made to work with and around asbestos-containing materials and about Mr. Sammons’ actions in illegally disposing of the same.”
Meddings says he also complained to Wayne County Schools Superintendent Todd Alexander, and his union rep also contacted the State Superintendent of Schools.
Because of Meddings complaints, it was discovered the building did contain asbestos, which had to be abated “at great expense” to the school board. Sammons also was disciplined because of Meddings’ complaints.
In addition, Meddings says he had told Sammons since at least 2013 that were theft occurring at the bus garage, but he says Sammons failed to do anything about it.
On October 16, 2019, there was a break-in at the garage. It was suspected that employee James Reeves had been stealing parts and materials since about 2012. Sammons told investigators he never had been notified of thefts in the garage, but Meddings told police he had told Sammons for years that theft was occurring.
As a result, Sammons was charged with obstruction of justice. A few months later, Meddings says he was terminated.
“The Wayne County Board of Education voted to eliminate plaintiff’s position and terminate his employment at the urging of defendant Hurley in retaliation for his previous complaints and reports about her brother and the Wayne County BOE,” the complaint states.
Meddings accuses the defendants of violating the West Virginia Whistleblower Act as well as wrongful and retaliatory discharge. He says he has suffered past and future economic damages including wages and benefits. He says he also has suffered annoyance, inconvenience, embarrassment, humiliation, loss of dignity and emotional distress.
He seeks compensatory and punitive damages, pre- and post-judgment interest, attorney fees, court costs and other relief.
Meddings is being represented by Michael P. Addair of Addair Law Office in Hurricane.
Meddings and Sammons have been involved in related lawsuits in the last few years.
In March, U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers dismissed a case filed by Sammons, who claimed he had been wrongfully accused of obstructing an investigation into and taking part in a criminal conspiracy regarding theft of board property. The original defendants were the Alexander, the Wayne County Commission, Wayne County Sheriff Rick Thompson, Deputy Harry Sowards and Meddings. All but the school board, Sowards and Meddings already had been dismissed when Chambers dismissed the entire case.
All of the parties also were central to a civil lawsuit filed in 2020 by two other former board employees who say they were prosecuted to intimidate, embarrass and harm their reputation and credibility and to prevent Katrina and James Reeves from keeping their jobs.
Wayne Circuit Court case number 22-C-37