BECKLEY, W.Va. – The Raleigh County Commission has now issued a response to a complaint in which its members are named as defendants.
The suit regards alleged conduct of former Prosecuting Attorney Ben Hatfield.
The plaintiff claims that “the commission defendants took no steps to remove Defendant Hatfield from the office, did not file the necessary petition, and upon information and belief, did not conduct a meaningful inquiry into the issues she and others faced and endured”.
The lawsuit also alleges that she and her co-workers had no HR personnel to report to after allegedly being subjected to Hatfield’s behavior.
In response, the commission says they the actions they took were suitable. Their letter says they had Hatfield agree to administrative leave, provided paid time off for employees, established a confidential helpline and initiated its own investigation.
The letter says “many of the allegations pertain to personnel issues” which the commission believed limits its ability to prove how allegations in the suit are “baseless”.
“Since the day the allegations of wrongdoing by the former Raleigh County Attorney were brought to the attention of this Commission, we explored and investigated all avenues of relief allowed by West Virginia law,” said the commission.
The letter is signed by Gregory Duckworth, Daniel Hall and Linda Epling.
The suit says that Hatfield “imprisoned” employees and subjected them to sexual harassment among other allegations.
Hatfield went on administrative leave and resigned on his own accord.
Last year the commission were defendants in a suit regarding a different employee’s alleged actions.
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