CHARLESTON – A Black woman accuses a state agency of racial discrimination after she was accused of cheating on a basic training correction academy exam.
Tiziana Bradley filed her complaint in Kanawha Circuit Court against the West Virginia Department of Homeland Security, Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
According to her complaint, Bradley began work as a correctional officer at Mount Olive Correctional Complex and Jail on November 21, 2021, and she began her basic training soon after.
On December 7, 2021, Bradley says instructor Michael Blagg gave the class a multiple-choice exam. She says Blagg left the room and didn’t make an effort to monitor the cadets.
Bradley later learned she had a score significantly higher than those of cadets seated near her. Blagg then asked her if she had committed academic fraud during the exam. Bradley told him she had not done so.
Still, she says Blagg told West Virginia Correction Academy Manager James Day about his false allegations about Bradley cheating on the exam. The next day, Bradley was given a letter from Day notifying her she was being removed from basic training effective immediately.
The letter said she made “overt attempt(s) to compromise Phase One (1) Exam Question(s).” Bradley says the letter did not mention any evidence to support their claims.
“Some White cadets engaged in conduct that might have potentially raised suspicions about cheating, including one White cadet who changed seating during the exam to sit next to another White cadet,” the complaint states.
Bradley says she filed a Level One Grievance with the state Employees Grievance Board on December 16, 2021, disputing her removal from basic training. She also sought reinstatement and expungement of her disciplinary records.
On January 21, 2022, Bradley was notified she was being reinstated to basic training and to have related disciplinary actions removed from her personnel file. That was three days before the scheduled grievance hearing.
But, Bradley says the six-week break made it “practically impossible” for her to reenter the class and complete graduation. During that six-week period, she says she suffered great anxiety, emotional distress, humiliation and embarrassment.
She also filed an Equal Employment Opportunity complaint with the Equal Opportunity Office of the West Virginia Department of Homeland Security. That investigation substantiated her complaint of disparate treatment.
Bradley accuses the defendant of racial discriminatory disparate treatment, a racially hostile work environment and racially discriminatory constructive discharge, all violations of the state Human Rights Act.
She seeks compensatory damages for economic damages such as lost wages and benefits and general damages for emotional distress, humiliation, mental pain and suffering, embarrassment and annoyance. She also seeks attorney fees, court costs, pre- and post-judgment interests and other relief.
In its answer, the WVDCR denies the allegations and seeks to have the case dismissed.
“Plaintiff’s complaint contains no allegations that her employment at Mt. Olive Correctional Complex and Jail was suspended or terminated,” the answer states. “It was not. By plaintiff’s own admission to EOO investigators, no action to terminate her employment was taken.
“Rather, the plaintiff herself made the decision not to return to employment as a correctional officer even though she could have worked at an alternate assignment while waiting to resume completion of a Basic Training course.
“Instead, she requested a Personal Leave of Absence without pay which was granted and made effective beginning December 10, 2021. After taking the leave of absence, plaintiff, of her own choosing, never returned to employment at Mt. Olive and subsequently submitted her resignation on March 7, 2022.
Bradley is being represented by Kurt E. Entsminger and Michael P. Addair of Addair Entsminger in Charleston. The WVDCR is being represented by Charles Bailey and Heather L. Hutchens of Bailey & Wyant in Charleston. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Carrie Webster.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 22-C-744