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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Four Putnam EMS workers accuse director of discrimination

State Court
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WINFIELD – Four employees of Putnam County Emergency Medical Services allege they have been the victims of various forms of discrimination by the EMS director.

Mary Jo Woodford, Angela Wood, Errin Gibson and James Ballard filed their complaints in Putnam Circuit Court against Putnam County Emergency Medical Services, the Putnam County Commission and Kraig D. Barker. Barker was hired in April 2021 as director of Putnam County EMS.

The complaints accuse the defendants of sex, age and disability discrimination. They also accuse the defendants of creating a hostile work environment and of retaliation after the plaintiffs complained about the conditions.


Barker | /

According to the complaints, three Assistant Supervisor positions became available in mid-2021, shortly after Barker was hired. The complaints say the position is considered a “stepping stone” to the position of supervisor. All four plaintiffs were among the 10 or so who applied for the positions. None of the plaintiffs were selected for the jobs.

During his interview, Ballard says Barker inquired about his age and asked, “How much longer are you going to be able to do this?” When he said he was healthy and could do it “as long as I want to,” he says Barker shook his head. He says three “much younger” employees with less experience, seniority and training were selected instead. The female plaintiffs note the three who were hired all were males.

Woodford also says she filed a complaint June 9, 2021, with the West Virginia Human Rights Commission alleging discrimination regarding the hiring process. Two months later, she was promoted to Assistant Supervisor. She says Barker told others he was forced to promote Woodford because she filed the complaint. Still, she says she wasn’t treated equally.

In Wood’s complaint, she says Barker took her job as supply officer away from her shortly after he was hired because he said she didn’t stock a spare truck even after she says she had previously been told to stock trucks after the first of the month only. He assigned the job to a “much younger male employee.”

Barker allegedly said the male was “young, new, and I can train him to be how I want him.”

During Gibson’s interview for the Assistant Supervisor position, she says Barker asked her how she felt about being known as “Scooter’s wife” because her husband (Ballard) also works for the defendants. He also asked her if she would have trouble getting childcare if she and her husband were scheduled at the same time.

Ballard says Barker changed his schedule so he wouldn’t work with his wife Gibson even though they had worked together previously.

Gibson and Ballard also filed a complaint about Barker with the state Human Rights Commission. After that, both say they was called into his office and was written up for taking July 4th off and for “excessive absenteeism.” Both say they were given a verbal warning and a written notice for the same incident.

Both also say Barker made comments about her Human Rights complaint, such as telling others they could “run and filed a complaint” if they didn’t like something he did.

“Barker has a pattern and practice of preferring male employees for management positions,” one complaint states. “Barker stated that he did not have to follow the guidelines. …

“Barker cultivates and encourages a ‘boy’s club’ environment in which women are demeaned and treated less favorably than male employees.”

Wood says she filed a complaint with the state Human Rights Commission about Barker on March 1, 2022. Soon after that, she was moved to a new station in Buffalo, which is farther away from her home. She says there was no need for a transfer.

Wood also says Barker tells other employees she is a troublemaker who causes problems.

Because she suffers from panic attacks, Wood says an alert tone in the office was adjusted so it gradually go louder instead of immediately sounding a loud blast. After she complained about him, she says Barker changed the alert to sound at full volume immediately.

Woodford says she applied for the position of Director of Education because she already had been doing the job for a year. She says she again was passed over for the job while a younger male with much less experience was hired.

She also says a younger male was promoted to Supervisor a few months later despite not meeting the requirements of the job in terms of experience.

"Barker has claimed he does not have to follow the standard operating guidelines that are in place and has claimed that he is just going to rewrite them," Woodford's complaint states.

Other allegations in the complaints include:

* Barker told a young female employee she could be promoted if she "got under his desk and showed me how bad you want the job.”

* Barker gives some employees, including himself, company vehicles to drive home, but none of them are women.

* Barker scrutinizes and criticizes female employees more harshly than males.

* Barker would hold up dirty dishes for his secretary to get from him, saying, “A woman should know her place.”

* Barker commented on how female EMTs from Putnam County and from Cabell County looked in their work pants. He said one Cabell EMT could be a pole dancer because “her butt looked so good.”

Ballard says he retired November 1, 2021, because he felt the defendants “were forcing him out of his job by treating him disparately due to his age and failing to promote him to a position he was qualified for on the basis of his age.” He says he would have qualified for higher retirement benefits if he had been promoted and continued working.

The plaintiffs accuse the defendants of violating the state Human Rights Act, sex discrimination, age discrimination, disability discrimination, violating substantial public policy, aiding and abetting and retaliation and reprisal.

They seek a declaratory judgment declaring the acts of the defendants in violation of state code, a permanent injunction ordering the defendants to establish an ongoing training program about discrimination in the workplace and one ordering them to cease and desist the acts mentioned in the complaints. They seek back pay and benefits, front pay, compensatory damages for emotional and mental distress, humiliation, anxiety, embarrassment, depression, aggravation, annoyance, inconvenience and loss of enjoyment of life. They also seek punitive damages, other economic damages, court costs, attorney fees, pre- and post-judgment interests and other relief.

The plaintiffs are being represented by Kristina Thomas Whiteaker of The Grubb Law Group in Charleston and by Tammy Bowles Raines of Tammy Bowles Raines Law Office in Charleston.

In their answers to the complaints, the defendants deny the allegations and seek to have the cases dismissed. They are being represented by Jacob D. Layne of Pullin Fowler Flanagan Brown & Poe in Charleston.

Putnam Circuit Court case numbers 22-C-149 (Woodford), 22-C-150 (Wood), 22-C-151 (Gibson) and 22-C-152 (Ballard)

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