HUNTINGTON – A former employee of a sober living home says the facility retaliated against him after he reported false billing to federally funded programs.
Anthony Pettry filed his complaint in Cabell Circuit Court against Recovery Resource Group LLC and James R. Williamson, who is a co-owner and co-founder of RRG, which provides addiction recovery, therapy and services for patients dealing with drug addiction.
According to the complaint, Pettry worked for RRG as a support specialist from December 2021 to November 2022. He says he provided patients with support or counseling such as how to deal with addiction withdrawals and how to remain sober. He also helped patients learn basic skills, provided counseling and how to use community resources available to them.
Pettry says he was trained how to bill for services for reimbursement by federally funded programs such as Medicaid and Medicare.
“Approximately a month or two into his employment with RRG, Mr. Pettry soon realized that RRG management was more concerned about billing and the money generated through billing for services provided rather than the addiction recovery of patients,” the complaint states. “RRG management routinely told Mr. Pettry he needed to drive patients to different appointments in order to bill for alleged services that RRG was supposedly providing patients.”
Pettry says management also made it clear if he expected compensation, he was required to bill the federally funded programs regardless of whether RRG provided services for which it could permissibly bill.
“In essence, RRG was requiring its employees to document for certain services that it was not providing to its clients,” the complaint states. “In other words, RRG was serially billing federal program for services not provided by directing its employees to falsely document in certain instances.”
He used an example to illustrate the issue.
“RRG’s management would direct its employees to transport clients to and from locations for which RRG could not legally bill federal insurance programs,” the complaint states. “RRG, however, orchestrated a workaround through which it would recover funding from federal insurance providers for that transportation by directing its employees to falsely document that the transportation in these instances was to and from locations and for services that would permit recovery from federally funded insurance providers.
“The false documentation permitted RRG to fraudulently recover for services that it did not provide.”
Pettry says he was “shocked and outraged” RRG would knowingly defraud the federal government and commit fraud on taxpayers. He says Williamson and William Lockwood directly told employees to bill in this manner, meaning RRG’s “work churning” policy came from its highest-level supervisors.
Pettry said he complained to management about these practices through face-to-face conversations and electronic group chats.
At a February 2022 meeting, Pettry says RRG management acknowledged employees were not allowed to bill for travel time but instructed them to use a workaround to permit RRG to continue to bill for it.
“Pettry and others were instructed … not to use language in their notes indicating travel,” the complaint states. “In other words, they were directed to ‘word your notes so that it doesn’t reflect that you were transporting.’ Another example included, ‘if you take a client to an AA meeting, don’t say that you took the client to an AA meeting because you’re not allowed to say that. Put in there that you took them to a support group.’”
Pettry also says Williamson was part owner of another sober living home in Glenwood, and RRG employees routinely worked at both facilities. He says the same unlawful billing practices were used there before it was closed.
The plaintiff says RRG began retaliating against him for his complaints by assigning unreasonable tasks. He also says it became clear management was trying to find a reason to terminate him, such as making him take a disproportionate number of drug tests and calling him into more meetings than other employees.
Pettry says the issues forced him to quit on November 27, 2022. He says he also filed a complaint with the West Virginia Attorney General’s office about the alleged fraudulent conduct of RRG.
He further claims RRG failed to pay him all his wages due after he quit.
Pettry accuses the defendants of retaliation in violation of the West Virginia Patient Safety Act, retaliation, constructive discharge and violation of the West Virginia Wage Payment and Collection Act.
He claims loss of dignity, embarrassment, humiliation, aggravation, emotional distress and economic damages.
He seeks compensatory damages for lost wages and benefits, back pay, front pay, actual damages, punitive damages, pre- and post-judgment interests, court costs, attorney fees and other relief.
In separate answers, both RRG and Williamson denied the allegations and seek to have the case dismissed with prejudice.
Pettry is being represented by Rodney A. Smith and M. Alex Urban of Rod Smith Law in Charleston. The defendants are represented by Scott K. Sheets of Dinsmore & Shohl in Huntington. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Paul Farrell.
Cabell Circuit Court case number 24-C-406