CHARLESTON - A Kanawha County man has filed a suit against a local coal company, claiming he was fired after he filed a workers' compensation claim for injuries he sustained on the job.
Timothy Bishop filed a suit Feb. 20 in Kanawha Circuit Court against Catenary Coal Company.
According to the suit, Bishop was injured June 14, 2007, when the Mack truck he was driving overturned and caught fire. The suit says Bishop suffered a broken arm, scaphoid fracture with avascular necrosis and other injuries.
Bishop claims the wreck was the company's fault because they failed to train him on how to operate a vehicle traveling up and down hills and failed to fix the brakes on the truck.
According to the suit, Bishop filed for workers' compensation.
In August 2007, two months after his accident, Bishop was randomly drug tested, which came back positive with reports of hydrocodone and oxycodone. As a result of the test, Bishop was fired.
According to the suit, Bishop provided a second urine screening and hair sample testing, which rebutted the accuracy of the first test, but the company refused to reconsider their decision to fire him.
Bishop claims the company filed to rehire him in part because he filed a workers' compensation claim.
Bishop claims he suffered loss of benefits, legal expenses and emotional distress. He seeks compensatory and punitive damages.
Attorney E. William Harvit is representing Bishop. The case has been assigned to Judge James Stucky.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 08-C-319
Man says he was fired after filing workers' comp claim
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