MORGANTOWN — A lawsuit filed this week in Monongalia County Circuit Court accuses MECCA 911 supervisors of bullying an openly gay employee and making racially insensitive and sexually inappropriate comments — then firing an employee for attempting to report the activity.
Attorney Teresa Toriseva filed the suit on behalf of Michelle Riggleman, who says she was terminated after two years with MECCA 911 after contacting the Monongalia County Commission to inquire about how she should go about filing a grievance.
The suit names the county commission, which funds and runs MECCA 911, as the defendant.
It claims the county violated the state’s whistleblower law 6C-1-3(a) as well as code forbidding retaliatory discharge 5-11-9(7)(C). Further, the suits states the county, through its employees, acted in a way that caused Riggleman emotional distress and allowed a hostile work environment.
According to court documents, Riggleman was one of several employees who wrote complaints about MECCA supervisors bullying a gay coworker to the extent that the coworker ultimately resigned. It goes on to state seven of the 10 employees to file the complaints had their shifts changed.
Further, the lawsuit claims supervisors at MECCA openly made racially insensitive comments and disparaging comments relating to the LGBTQ community. It also states that Riggleman was routinely subjected to sexually inappropriate comments from supervisors related to women and sexual encounters — including about callers into the 911 center.
Riggleman ultimately contacted the county commission office after failed attempts to find a grievance filing procedure. The suit states repeated calls to the commission went without response beyond an emailed copy of the county handbook.
“Upon information and belief, the commission office contacted the MECCA director and/or the administrative team and reported that Ms. Riggleman was looking to file a grievance,” the suit states.
Following a scheduled vacation, Riggleman was called into a meeting with MECCA 911 leadership and fired for not following the chain of command. This, despite the county handbook saying discriminatory conduct should be reported to the department head and/or the county commission.
“Clearly, Ms. Riggleman followed the policies and procedures of the Monongalia Employee Handbook,” the suit states.
It adds, “The pretextual retaliatory discharge of Ms. Riggleman after she filed complaints related to the treatment of a gay coworker and other discriminatory comments and actions were atrocious, intolerable, and so extreme and outrageous as to exceed the bounds of decency.”
The Dominion Post reached out officials at MECCA 911 and the Monongalia County Commission. Commission President Sean Sikora said he did not wish to comment at this time.
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