HUNTINGTON — A former employee is suing Prestera Center for Health Services alleging it discriminated against her and retaliated against her after she was injured on the job and received worker's compensation benefits.
Gregory Quinn was also named as a defendant in the suit.
Christie Lynette Gould was employed at Prestera and was attacked by a resident on Jan. 30, 2020, according to a complaint filed in Cabell Circuit Court.
Gould claims Prestera subcontracted patients from other mental health care services like prisons and the resident who attacked her was of another mental health care service and/or prison.
The resident, Quinn, was known to be dangerous around women when left unattended and the defendant was aware of Quinn's issue but failed to secure him from her, resulting in the attack, according to the suit.
Gould claims she filed a worker's compensation report and was then retaliated against after filing the report and was forced to resign on March 7, 2020.
The plaintiff received compensation pursuant to the worker's compensation insurance policy and requested multiple meetings to ensure that the incident would never happen again, according to the suit.
Gould claims the defendant completely ignored her requests and wouldn't even move Quinn from Gould's care and insisted she still work around him.
The plaintiff was so upset about the defendant's failure to offer any sort of protection after she was sexually assaulted that it caused her much mental distress and anxiety and forced her to resign from her employment, according to the suit.
Gould claims the defendant's actions violated the West Virginia Human Rights Act and was retaliatory discrimination.
Gould 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 Alfred E. Ferguson.
Cabell Circuit Court case number: 22-C-72
