BECKLEY — A couple is suing Asplundh Tree Expert claiming unlawful employment practices and a hostile work environment.
The allegations include one employee making sexual advances to a co-workers' wife and leaving the family deserted along the highway in New Mexico while returning to West Virginia from a job in California.
Sheldon Russell Brown and Hannah Brittany Brown claim the defendants created and fostered a hostile work environment based on the fact that Sheldon Brown rejected a quid pro quo sexual advance of his wife, Hannah Brittany Brown, from Luke Martin, according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia. Martin also is named as a defendant in the suit.
The Browns claim as a result of rejecting Martin’s continued sexual solicitation of his wife, Martin retaliated against Sheldon Brown by stranding him, his wife, and their two-year-old daughter on the side of the road in New Mexico, while coming back from California after completing work for Asplundh.
"Mr. Martin ultimately terminated Mr. Brown’s employment with Defendant Asplundh," the complaint states. "Plaintiffs contend that the Defendants retaliated against Plaintiff Sheldon Brown after he reported said conditions to other co-workers and after he and Mrs. Brown rejected the quid pro quo offer of Defendant Martin."
The Browns claim the defendants violated the West Virginia Human Rights Act.
Sheldon Brown was employed by the defendants beginning in 2018. In January 2020, Sheldon Brown was assigned a long-term tree removal project in Northern California and was there until April 2020.
Martin repeatedly asked Sheldon Brown if he could have sexual relations with Hannah Brown and Sheldon Brown refused.
"As a result, Defendant Luke Martin hit Mr. Brown in the kidneys," the complaint states. "Soon thereafter, Plaintiff Sheldon Brown returned to his hotel room to stay with his wife, Plaintiff Hannah Brown, and their daughter. However, Defendant Martin continued sending messages to Mr. Brown trying to persuade Mr. Brown to allow him to have sexual relations with his wife."
When the project was finished, they traveled back to West Virginia in a caravan in various trucks and vehicles, both commercial and private, and the group stopped in New Mexico. While they were stopped, Martin approached the plaintiffs, told them he "was done" and that they needed to find their own way home.
The Browns claim when they finally arrived back in West Virginia, Martin terminated Sheldon Brown's employment.
The Browns are seeking compensatory damages. They are represented by Abraham J. Saad, Hoyt E. Glazer and Eric B. Anderson of Glazer Saad Anderson in Huntington.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia case number: 5:22-cv-00118
