A former employee filed a lawsuit last week against the City of Morgantown and a Public Works supervisor citing gender discrimination, hostile work environment, and constructive discharge.
According to the complaint filed in Monongalia County Circuit Court by the plaintiff, Morgan Radabaugh, and her attorney Ambria Britton of Klie Law Offices, Radabaugh believes the city and her supervisor Harry Dalton discriminated against her because of her sex and degraded and belittled her based on gender stereotyping.
Radabaugh was hired by the city as a laborer in April 2018. Her employment ended in August 2021 after she felt she was left with no choice but to submit a letter of resignation, due to continued discrimination and hostile work environment, the complaint stated.
Radabaugh claims she was treated in a disparate manner based on her gender and faced derogatory comments and jokes, less preferential job assignments, and was declined job advancement and training.
The former employee also alleges she was not provided equal opportunity for overtime in comparison to male employees and supervisors failed to address her reports of safety violations and discrimination.
Throughout the duration of her employment, Radabaugh claims various city representatives, employees, or agents, including supervisor Dalton, frequently made inappropriate jokes and comments about her gender and sexual orientation.
In one example provided in the complaint, Radabaugh states a male employee told her that because she was a lesbian, she and her girlfriend would never have kids and insinuated that her sexual orientation made her unfit to be a parent.
Radabaugh said she reported the discriminatory comments to Dalton, but no action was taken to investigate, discipline the employee, or remedy the matter. She also claims Dalton permitted the discriminatory conduct as he was present for many of the comments made by other employees and always failed to act.
Another example given by Radabaugh claims a different male employee placed a large sticker on her hard hat that said “no nutz.” Because of this, she requested a new hard hat but was not provided with one until right before her employment ended.
In addition to inappropriate comments, Radabaugh also believes preferential job duties such as running heavy equipment, were offered more to male employees. She also believes her male counterparts were offered more overtime and at times she was even skipped when her turn came to be called for overtime.
Throughout the duration of her employment, Radabaugh states she completed all of her job duties in a satisfactory or above satisfactory manner and committed no separate dischargeable offense.
When she was hired, her male co-workers complained they did not want Radabaugh coming to work with them because of her gender, the complaint said. She also believes she was prevented from opportunities to log driving time needed to renew a prior CDL license because male employees did not want to ride with her because of her gender and/or sexual orientation.
Radabaugh claims, due the acts and/or omissions of the city and her supervisor Dalton, she has been caused to suffer back pay, front pay, lost wages, lost benefits, loss of future earnings, future loss of benefits, financial hardship, emotional distress, anxiety, embarrassment, and attorney fees.
The City of Morgantown does not comment on open or pending litigation, but was given the opportunity.
