Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 30, 1994 TAG: 9408010034
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
She was one of the highest-paid female managers employed at the subsidiary, Dominion Stores Inc., according to a lawsuit filed Friday in Henry County Circuit Court.
But Riddle was terminated while on the two-month leave, which began in late April. In the suit, Riddle claims she was fired because she's a woman and she was pregnant.
An executive with Tultex, however, says she was terminated because of a reorganization that eliminated Riddle's job. The company has not yet filed a legal response to the suit.
Defendants named in the suit are: Tultex; Dominion Stores; Tultex Vice President John J. Smith; and Lewis T. Drane, general manager of Dominion Stores.
According to the suit, here's how the situation developed:
Smith transferred Drane in May from another Tultex department to replace the Dominion Stores general manager at that time, Donald R. Lawson. Lawson was given the option to leave the company with severance pay or agree to a demotion to Riddle's position.
Riddle was informed in May of Lawson's transfer to her former job. In June, she called to inquire about returning to work and was told no job was available for her.
The suit alleges that the personnel changes involving Drane, Lawson and Riddle were a "rollback," or reduction in salaried work force. The suit contends that according to the company's policy manual, RIddle had the option of displacing an employee with less seniority the same way Lawson displaced her.
Reached Friday, Drane said Riddle's job was eliminated under the restructuring, and the job Lawson now holds is "much more encompassing" than the position Riddle held. Asked if it is still called merchandise manager, Riddle's former job title, Drane said: "I haven't gotten into that yet."
"This was not a rollback," he said. "It was a reorganization, and there were no jobs available that I felt [Riddle] was qualified for."
Answering the charge of sex discrimination, Drane said a woman was promoted to a systems analyst position with Dominion Stores while Riddle was still employed by the company.
"That is a manager's position," he said.
The suit, though, questions Lawson's experience compared with Riddle's:
"Lawson has less relevant work experience with Tultex in merchandise management and less formal education than Riddle and in other respects is less qualified than Riddle for the position of merchandise manager."
Lawson could not be reached for comment Friday. Riddle also could not be reached, but her Roanoke lawyer, Paul Beers, said she is unemployed.
by CNB