PITTSBURGH – A West Elizabeth man says he was fired from a water and sewer authority when he refused to follow a directive that he alleges would have resulted in raw sewage being illegally dumped into the Monongahela River.
Perry Payne filed suit in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas on Aug. 11 versus West Elizabeth Sanitary Authority and West Elizabeth Borough, Union Township of Finleyville and the Borough of Jefferson Hills.
“Plaintiff began working for WESA in June 2013. In September 2019, WESA was in the process of trying to get a new processing treatment plant online. Around this time, the old plant was still online and it developed a processing issue. Plaintiff did everything he could to address and correct this processing issue, but it continued until about mid-January 2020,” Payne said.
“In the beginning of January 2020, plaintiff was told by Engineer Larry Lennon, Sr. to take two of the big tanks offline and leave the three smaller tanks online to address the processing issue at the old plant.”
Per the lawsuit, Payne says he immediately refused the order and told Lennon that if the two big tanks were taken offline, when it rained, the three smaller tanks would immediately overflow and sewage sludge would dump into the Monongahela River.
Lennon allegedly said, “It happens every day,” referring to sewage sludge being dumped into the Monongahela River. However, Payne refused to follow Lennon’s direction because in doing so, he would be purposely dumping sewage sludge into the Monongahela River, which the plaintiff says he knew was illegal.
Another WESA employee, Scott Pearson later approached the plaintiff and asked him to follow Lennon’s suggestion, but Payne once again explained that in doing so he’d be purposely dumping sewage sludge into the Monongahela River, which was illegal.
“Plaintiff told Mr. Lennon and Mr. Pearson that he was going to report WESA to the Allegheny County Health Department, because WESA was not only allowing sewage sludge to be dumped into the Monongahela River, but they were also asking him to dump sewage sludge into the Monongahela River, both of which were illegal under various state and federal statutes. Plaintiff contacted Ed Wadkins from the ACHD in January 2020 and reported WESA. On Feb. 24, 2020, plaintiff was fired,” the suit says.
“WESA has a Board that consists of approximately 8-10 members/seats, which are held by representatives from all of the defendants, the West Elizabeth Sanitary Authority, West Elizabeth Borough, Union Township and the Borough of Jefferson Hills (collectively referred to as the Board).”
Payne believes that since the Board oversees WESA’s activities, they were aware of the illegal dumping into the Monongahela River, were aware of his refusal to engage in that conduct, were aware of his internal complaints about the dumping and lastly, were aware of his reporting of the illegal dumping to the Allegheny County Health Department.
As the Board made the decision to terminate plaintiff’s employment, Payne therefore says all of the defendants were involved in the decision to terminate him.
For counts of violating the Pennsylvania Whistleblower Act and wrongful termination under the Clean Streams Law and Pennsylvania Sewage Facilities Act, the plaintiff is seeking all damages available at law and in equity, including lost wages, front pay, liquidated damages, punitive damages, court costs, attorney’s fees, pre-judgment, continuing interest, any other relief that the Court deems necessary and proper, plus a trial by jury.
The plaintiff is represented by Christi Wallace of MKO Employment Law, in Pittsburgh.
The defendants have not yet obtained legal counsel.
Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas case GD-20-008582
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com