CHARLESTON – A diabetic Mercer County man says he was a victim of disability discrimination by his former employer.
Craig Walker filed his complaint February 20 in Kanawha Circuit Court against AT&T Mobility Services LLC and Kenneth Ridenour, who works for AT&T. Walker was an assistant manager at an AT&T store in Beckley.
According to the complaint, Walker worked for AT&T from June 2019 until he was fired in July 2025.
Walker has Type 1 diabetes, and he says complications from that affect substantial life activities, including but not limited to making him physically sick, fatigued and in need of constant medication. But he says it doesn’t keep him from working either with or without reasonable accommodation. He says AT&T knew he had Type1 diabetes.
Walker says he had complained to AT&T about the way he was being treated by Ridenour, who was his manager. He says Ridenour and Aneesa Harrison, another manager, sent him text messages about work when he was on FMLA leave because of complications from his diabetes. Walker says his doctor had advised him to take a few months off until he could manage his condition effectively.
Walker says Ridenour had made comments to co-worker Roger Humphery about Walker and his disability. He said he believes Humphery filed a complaint with Human Resources about Ridenour’s discrimination against Walker.
When HR followed up with Walker about the complaint, he said he had conversations with Ridenour about his diabetes, and he said that had made him “uneasy about plaintiff’s job security with the company, in part because of the way Ridenour discussed plaintiff’s disability with plaintiff.”
When the HR representative asked for screenshots of any discriminatory conversations with Ridenour, Walker says he declined to send them through a work email or phone because he feared retaliation from Ridenour and AT&T … “and that Ridenour might have access to them.”
“Plaintiff did not want his job to become any more challenging than it already was becoming based on the treatment he had been receiving, and feared retaliation, which was in part why he did not make the initial complaint against Ridenour,” the complaint states. “The information provided showed that plaintiff had been discriminated against, not reasonably been accommodated, retaliated against and not engaged in the interactive process which led to Ridenour’s termination by AT&T in approximately November 2024.”
Walker says a co-worker named Courtney McNew told him of a May 2025 store manager meeting in which he was discussed. On May 31, he emailed HR about concerns he had regarding that meeting as well as other policy and procedure questions.
In early June, he says AT&T HR discussed setting up a meeting with him but never did so. And in July, Walker says he filed a complaint against his area manager upon returning from vacation.
Walker says he was fired July 16, his first day back from vacation by Aneesa Harrison. He says Harrison offered him a chance to relocate to a store in South Charleston, which is nearly 100 miles from his home in Princeton. He said he would need to talk to his doctor because of the travel that would be involved as well as to HR.
Walker says Harrison told him he needed to make a decision immediately and that HR would support her decision. He says Harrison also tried to get him to email her his resignation “even though plaintiff did not want to resign.”
He says he was told by AT&T HR there would be an investigation into his firing, but he says the company never contacted him again. He says he could have continued working with reasonable job accommodation, and he says AT&T failed to engage him in an interactive process or provide him with the reasonable accommodation.
Walker says the defendants retaliated against him because he sought reasonable accommodation for his disability and because “he exercised his rights in taking leave related to his disability.”
Walker says the conduct of the defendants created an offensive, intimidating and hostile work environment, interfering with his work performance and causing him severe mental anguish, and emotional distress. He says he ws discharged for pre-textual reasons.
He also says he filed a claim for unemployment benefits with WorkForce West Virginia, which determined Walker was not disqualified from receiving full Unemployment Benefits as he did not commit any misconduct as the employer did not provide any evidence of misconduct.
Walker accuses the defendants of disability discrimination, age discrimination, wrongful termination, retaliation, failure to provide reasonable accommodation and to engage in the interactive process in violation of the West Virginia Human Rights Act, public policy and common law.
He seeks general and other damages for back pay, front pay and lost benefits as well as damages for mental anguish, emotional distress, humiliation, aggravation and inconvenience and damage to his reputation. He also seeks punitive damages, attorney fees, court costs and other relief.
Walker is being represented by attorney John Einreinhofer of South Charleston. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Carrie Webster.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 26-C-248
