ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Jean Hamilton has remanded a wrongful termination suit against Convergys Corp. brought by a worker who claims she had been retaliated against for complaining and reporting workplace policy violations back to the St. Louis County Circuit Court.
Hamilton held that because her court does not have jurisdiction, the matter should be remanded to the circuit court.
Convergys, as well as co-defendants Brian Campbell, Vanessa Rodgers and Cassandra Jackson, removed the case to the Eastern District of Missouri based on diversity jurisdiction. In part, the defendants argued that Campbell, Rodgers and Jackson were fraudulently joined to the litigation because they could not be individually liable under the Missouri Human Rights Act in that they were not employers under the meaning of Missouri statute and because plaintiff Auquanette Claxton did not sufficiently allege a cause of action for intentional infliction of emotional distress.
According to background information in the March 27 ruling, Claxton filed suit against Convergys Corp., et al. in St. Louis County Circuit Court in 2017 claiming that after she requested leave under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), she was penalized and suffered disability discrimination.
Claxton alleged she had been diagnosed with numerous medical conditions and was on a restricted work schedule on the advice of a doctor. She further claims that she was terminated for complaining and reporting workplace violations. Her lawsuit also claimed intentional infliction of emotional distress.
She claims to have been “pushed around, humiliated and demeaned because of her age and illness," the ruling states. It also states that actions towards Claxton were “hostile, egregious and outrageous.”
“…Defendant Jackson, who was 'team lead/supervisor demanded money from plaintiff to buy gas, cigarettes and lunch'; that these demands 'placed plaintiff under duress and in fear'; that the 'money taken by defendant placed plaintiff in an untenable position financially and caused severe stress'; and that 'Plaintiff was made fun of for being older, slow and for having a bald spot at the top of her head,'" the ruling states.