Civil suits accuse GreenPower of sexual harassment, more

CHARLESTON – Three civil lawsuits have been filed by women who worked at GreenPower Motors’ plant in South Charleston, all accusing the company and officials of sexual discrimination and more.

The first complaint was filed in June by Nicolena Fortuna against GreenPower Manufacturing WV Inc., GreenPower Motor Company and Mark Nestlen, who is GreenPower’s vice president of business development and strategy who oversaw day-to-day operations of the South Charleston plant despite being a resident of Oklahoma. The second complaint was filed in July by Sasha Deskins against the same defendants, and the third complaint was filed September 9 by Christina Richardson against the same defendants plus South Charleston plant manager James Redd.

GreenPower is a manufacturer of electric school buses. When the company announced its move to West Virginia in 2022, it said it would bring up to 200 new jobs by the end of the year and as many as 900 by 2024. At the end of 2024, there were 89 employees at the facility, and more than a dozen of those were laid off in May.

“This company came to West Virginia and made deals with the state for jobs and entered into an agreement with the state,” attorney Travis Griffith, who is representing the three women, told The West Virginia Record. “They have not delivered on the buses they were to provide, and they haven’t hired the people they were supposed to hire.”

Also, GreenPower and the state had an agreement for up to $15 million for the company to deliver 41 buses for use across the state. Only a dozen of those buses were delivered. And, another agreement had the company to deliver 50 electric buses to seven county school systems through an $18.5 million order through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean School Bus Program. Only a handful of those buses were delivered.

In addition, the company was to acquire 9.5 acres and a building in South Charleston. That lease required no cash up front, and monthly lease payments were to start nine months after production began. In May, the state issued GreenPower a final notice of default for missing lease payments.

“Our office has now filed three civil complaints in Kanawha County and two other complaints with the West Virginia Human Rights Commission,” Griffith told The Record. “To date, the Human Rights Commission complaints have not been responded to timely by GreenPower. Two civil complaints have not been responded to timely by GreenPower. The news has been quite public that the state is not satisfied with the performance of GreenPower and considers the company to be in default.

“It is the opinion of this office that if GreenPower wanted to meet their obligations to the state, perhaps they should treat their employees with the minimum standards of integrity that state law requires.”

In Fortuna’s case, she says she was hired to perform custodial work at the facility. In June 2023, she learned she was pregnant. Soon, coworkers – including Nestlen – knew. He congratulated her on the pregnancy.

“Plaintiff was concerned with the statements from defendant Nestlen as he had a tendency to demean women at work, often making sexist and sexual comments and additionally harassing some female workers,” the complaint states.

A few weeks later, Fortuna says her doctor told her she needed to take breaks during work and not to lift anything more than 20 pounds. Human Resources told her that would be fine “as it would have no effect on her work.”

On June 27, Fortuna says she was told the company would be outsourcing all custodial work and that her services no longer were required. She was terminated the next day.

“However, no outsourcing of custodial services occurred after plaintiff was terminated,” the complaint states. “The normal workers on each shift at GreenPower WV were instructed to clean their areas and to perform general custodial work after plaintiff’s termination.

“Staff and line workers complained that they were performing services outside and above what they were hired to do with no additional compensation despite adding resources and hours to their schedules.”

She says the workers did that custodial work for about three months until the company did outsource it. She says she was fired because of her pregnancy.

She accuses the defendants of sexual discrimination and perceived disability discrimination in violation of the West Virginia Human Rights Act as well as intentional infliction of emotional distress.

In Deskins’ complaint, she says she was hired in August 2022 for facility administration. Soon, she says she was subjected to harassment, bullying, inappropriate touching, invasions of personal space, intimidation and other forms of harassment by Nestlen. She says Nestlen often would touch her, grab her shoulders, invade her personal space and whisper things in her ear.

Deskins says he twice made her fear for her personal safety. Once, she says he held her hostage watching over her and forcing her to contact purchasing and refusing to allow her to leave at the end of her shift “keeping her in the room as she made calls for him until he obtained an answer which satisfied him.”

She says Nestlen often sat in the “bullpen” area of the facility and would “continually stare” at her and “refuse to speak to her.” She says he also once said he would shoot a doorbell off the wall if he had a gun at the time.

Deskins says she expressed her concerns about Nestlen to GreenPower’s headquarters in California and sought medical treatment because of anxiety caused by Nestlen. She says the company failed to take swift action to alleviate the hostile work environment, never disciplining Nestlen.

As a result, Deskins says she was forced to resign. She accuses the defendants of sexual discrimination, wrongful discharge and intentional infliction of emotional distress. She also accuses the company of negligent hiring, retention and supervision of Nestlen.

In Richardson’s complaint, she says she was hired to serve as the on-site Human Resources Department. She says she also was immediately subjected to harassment, bullying, inappropriate touching, invasions of personal space, intimidation and other forms of harassment by Nestlen.

During a business trip to California, she says she was checking into the hotel with Nestlen. When she was asked how many keys she would need, she says Nestlen spoke up and said Richardson would require “five or six tickets for her Tinder dates.”

The next month, she says she was on a call with Nestlen and another female worker about drug testing. She says Nestlen screamed at both women, calling them “stupid” and threatening them.

She says he also made comments about her legs at a public event and asked about any tattoos she might have.

When Redd began serving as plant manager in December 2024, Richardson says he screamed at her on his first day and demeaned her in front of other employees. She says Redd did that several times after as well.

“Later, James Redd, would go as far as having the plaintiff banned from the production floor without supervision despite the other male Human Resources officer, Jimmy Perry, being permitted on the floor at all times,” the complaint states. “James Redd was also given keys to plaintiff’s office and would often enter the office unaccompanied despite the fact that as a Human Resources officer, there were confidential files for the employees of GreenPower.”

Richardson says she also was blamed as the source of a payroll issue that actually was the “result of management’s resistance to paying employees in accordance with GreenPower policies.”

She says she often had to deal with disgruntled employees who had been laid off because the company would hire people to comply with the contract with the state “only to terminate those employees after the state had been provided the quota count.”

Richardson says she was forced to resign as well. She also accuses the defendants of sexual discrimination, constructive discharge, intentional infliction of emotional distress. She also accuses the company of negligent hiring, retention and supervision of Nestlen and Redd.

All three women seek compensatory damages, punitive damages, general damages, special damages, attorney fees, court costs and other relief.

Kanawha Circuit Court case numbers 25-C-679 (Fortuna), 25-C-842 (Deskins) and 25-C-1069 (Richardson)