MORGANTOWN – A Bridgeport woman says she was wrongfully terminated and a victim of age discrimination by a Morgantown health provider.
Joyce Bayles-Williams filed her complaint March 20 in Monongalia Circuit Court against Interim Healthcare of Pittsburgh doing business as Interim Healthcare of Morgantown and Whitney Graham, a supervisor for the company.
According to the complaint, Bayles-Williams was regional director of health care services for Interim Healthcare of Morgantown from November 2021 to July 11, 2022, when she was terminated. She says the defendants falsely implied she committed an act that required she be fired for gross misconduct.
Bayles-Williams, who is over the age of 40, says the defendants subjected her and other co-workers to age discrimination and retaliation based on their complaints of age discrimination and complaints of violations that included nursing, medical, home care and hospital standards and regulations.
She says the defendants created an intimidating, hostile and offensive work environment and tolerated age discrimination against her. She also says the defendants hired Graham, who was substantially younger, for her position despite Bayles-Williams having superior credentials and experience.
“The plaintiff was discharged by the defendants for pre-textual reasons and … was constructively replaced by a substantially younger individual and had a lesser qualified, substantially younger individual hired for an administrator position instead of plaintiff,” the complaint states. “The plaintiff was not warned previously regarding the conduct she was pre-textually terminated for. The defendants did not make a complaint about the plaintiff to the West Virginia Board of Nursing. The defendants did not report a HIPPA violation allegedly committed by the plaintiff to any patients or their families or to any other entity.”
When Bayles-Williams filed a claim for unemployment benefits with Workforce West Virginia, the Administrative Law Judge for the Board of Review determined she was not disqualified from receiving benefits because she did not commit any misconduct.
She accuses the defendants of age discrimination, wrongful discharge, unlawful retaliation and violating public policy including the West Virginia Patient Safety Act. She also says the defendants have an unenforceable arbitration agreement and says they didn’t initiate arbitration proceedings before she filed the lawsuit.
Bayles-Williams seeks compensatory damages for back pay, front pay and lost benefits as well as damages for mental anguish, emotional distress, humiliation, aggravation and inconvenience. She also seeks punitive damages, attorney fees, court costs and other relief. She also seeks to have the arbitration agreement declared unenforceable.
She is being represented by John Einreinhofer of the Law Offices of John Einreinhoer in Charleston.
Monongalia Circuit Court case number 23-C-69