Guardian Auto Glass hit with disability discrimination suit

CHARLESTON – A Kanawha County man is suing Guardian Auto Glass LLC for allegedly discriminating against him because of his disability.

Earl Smith was also named as a defendant in the suit.

Josh McCallister was employed by Guardian and he injured his shoulder pulling out a windshield in March, according to a complaint filed Aug. 30 in Kanawha Circuit Court.

McCallister claims he went to the doctor and was put on light duty and when he informed Smith, he was told Guardian did not have light duty work.

After the injury, McCallister filed a Workers’ Compensation claim and advised Smith he was filing the claim and asked for information, according to the suit.

McCallister claims he was awarded Workers’ Compensation benefits because of his shoulder injury and was not permitted to work at Guardian from March until August.

During the first week of August, McCallister says he received a call from Guardian’s third-party administrator and was told to report to work on Aug. 6, and he worked in the office from Aug. 6 to Aug 9. However, on Aug. 12, his employment was terminated, according to the suit.

McCallister claims Smith berated him and told him he was being written up for doing homework on company time, when he had, in fact, brought in some of his coursework materials from his electrical engineering class to work on during lunch.

The defendants violated the West Virginia Human Rights Act by discriminating against him based on his disability and caused McCallister damages, according to the suit.

McCallister is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. He is being represented by Rudolph L. DiTrapano and Robert M. Bastress III of DiTrapano, Barrett, DiPiero, McGinley & Simmons PLLC.

The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Carrie Webster.

Kanawha Circuit Court case number: 13-C-1663