CHARLESTON — A nurse is suing her former employer claiming she was wrongfully terminated from her employment because she had a disability.
Lots of Hearts Homecare, Angela Ranson-Atkins and Ken Kelly were all named as defendants in the suit
Beverly Stevens worked for the defendants and on May 10, 2022, she had a heart attack and was off work to have bypass surgery for her coronary artery disease, according to a complaint filed in Kanawha Circuit Court.
Stevens claims when she was released to return to work, she was told she would not be brought back to work.
The plaintiff is a licensed practical nurse and has experience and training as a nurse, according to the suit.
Ranson-Atkins as a manager, was in part responsible for supervising, evaluating, and managing Stevens, according to the suit.
Stevens claims during her employment, she was subjected to age and disability discrimination that unreasonably interfered with her work performance and created a hostile work environment.
"The Plaintiff was allegedly terminated because they 'couldn't bring her back' and she did not receive a termination letter," the complaint states. "This was a pre-text for termination based in whole or in part because she had a disability and because of her age. She was not warned previously regarding the conduct she was pre-textually terminated for. Defendants refused to respond to communications from the Plaintiff when she tried to continue her job and did not respond to communications received from the Plaintiff's attorney."
Stevens claims the defendants failed to follow their own personnel and disciplinary policies. She claims the defendants discriminated against her because of her disability and wrongfully terminated her employment.
Stevens is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. She is represented by John Einreinhofer of the Law Offices of John Einreinhofer in Charleston.
The case is assigned to Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number: 23-C-138