Attorney says “whistleblowers” have resigned from Raleigh County Circuit Clerk’s office

BECKLEY, WV (WVNS) — A group of employees who blew the whistle on allegations of racial and gender-based harassment at the Raleigh County Circuit Clerk’s Office in October 2023 have since resigned from their positions, an attorney for the employees said on Tuesday, August 6, 2024.

Attorney Robert Dunlap, who has filed a lawsuit on behalf of six “whistleblower” employees who worked under Raleigh County Circuit Court Clerk Robert McComas, said two of the six whistleblowers who are plaintiffs in the lawsuit have either resigned or submitted resignation notice.

Dunlap said county officials failed employees by not offering a human resources director, who would be trained in employment law, as other larger governmental agencies in the state have done.

“Since the filing of our lawsuits, and even before then, the county has failed to embrace the need for an HR department, and this is sort of what happens whenever employees don’t feel protected, and they don’t feel safe,” Dunlap said. “They don’t stay at those types of jobs.”

Raleigh County Commission President Greg Duckworth declined on Monday, August 5, 2024, to comment on the case, citing ongoing litigation.

McComas, a Republican who was elected to office in 2022, resigned after an investigation into the allegations by the Raleigh County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office in February.

Allegations include the publication of a hand-drawn KKK figure to employees, use of racially prejudiced and misogynistic language, constructive firing of a pregnant worker and verbal abuse of female and male employees.

The lawsuit alleges that the Raleigh County Commission, the official employer of McComas and the workers, failed to protect employees and released their names to media.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WVNS.