RIPLEY – A Constellium employee says she was discriminated against because of a visual problem she told the company about upon hiring.
Sharon D. Smith filed her complaint June 20 in Jackson Circuit Court against Constellium Rolled Products Ravenswood LLC and Hannah Hesson, who was a human resources manager at the facility.
According to the complaint, Smith originally was hired in early 2023 as a material expeditor/forklift operator in Constellium’s casting department. She says she told the company she had vision problems related to depth perception.
During an eyesight exam, she says she was told this wouldn’t prevent her from being hired and was told she would not be “put in a position where she would be required to operation certain equipment, such as the overhead crane.”
After three months in the casting department while still in training, Smith says she was told by her manager and foreman – under orders from another manager – to operate the crane. She says she told the manger she wasn’t refusing to operate the crane, but she said she didn’t have the depth perception to do so.
A third manager told Smith he had told the second manager there was no reason to have her in the crane because there already was a junior person to her and two more younger males who had been hired. She says she was told she would not have to train on the crane.
Smith says Constellium employees are required to complete a tier of training and sign a document verifying the training was completed before moving to the next tier of training.
After about four months on the job, Smith was told she was being demoted from the casting department to building services as a janitorial worker.
“Plaintiff was told that due to her lack of depth perception, her managers were concerned that she also lacked visual acuity related to distance and deemed her a liability,” the complaint states. “This is discrimination based upon the perception of disability.”
Smith says her visual acuity issues related to distance are corrected with glasses, as verified by the optometrist Constellium sent her to for advanced testing.
While the optometrist said Smith had little to no depth perception, she has operated forklifts for years at DuPont and Constellium. Other than the crane issue, Smith says foremen had told her she was doing fine in her position.
She says Constellium refused her request for reinstatement to her previous position in the casting department. After her demotion, she says two younger males were hired for the position she previously had.
Smith says she is able and competent and that Constellium should have made reasonable accommodations for her. But she says the company refused to do so.
She accuses Constellium of violating the West Virginia Human Rights Act. She says she has suffered emotional distress and incurred lost wages. She seeks compensatory damages, punitive damages, court costs, attorney fees, injunctive relief, other relief and reinstatement to the casting department job.
Smith is being represented by Walt Auvil and Kirk Auvil of The Employment Law Center in Parkersburg. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Lora Dyer.
Constellium’s Ravenswood plant is one of the world’s largest rolled products facilities. It produces plate, sheet and coil products for aerospace, defense, transportation, marine and industrial uses.
Jackson Circuit Court case number 25-C-80
