Opinion ID: 2395704
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Count ThreeEmployment Discrimination

Text: The next count brought by the Appellants sounded in employment discrimination. The Appellants alleged that Mrs. Roth was a member of a protected class on the basis of gender. She alleged that she was subjected to sexually explicit conduct and that but for her protected status, she would not have been terminated. In syllabus point three of Conaway v. Eastern Associated Coal Corp., 178 W.Va. 164, 358 S.E.2d 423 (1986), this Court set out the elements of a prima facie claim of disparate treatment: In order to make a prima facie case of [disparate treatment] employment discrimination under the West Virginia Human Rights Act, W. Va.Code § 5-11-1 et seq. (1979), the plaintiff must offer proof of the following: (1) That the plaintiff is a member of a protected class. (2) That the employer made an adverse decision concerning the plaintiff. (3) But for the plaintiff's protected status, the adverse decision would not have been made. Id. The circuit court determined that the firing had nothing to do with her gender and dismissed the claim. Rather, the circuit court found that the reason that Mrs. Roth was terminated was because she walked in on her employer in a compromising position with Ms. Kelly. As previously discussed in connection with the Appellants' hostile work environment claim, taking Mrs. Roth's allegations as true, the Court disagrees with the circuit court's conclusion that, based upon a review of the allegations in the Complaint, what transpired with the Appellant was not due to her gender. Rather, we find the Appellants sufficiently pleaded their cause of action for employment discrimination to survive a motion to dismiss made pursuant to West Virginia Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6).