Local pharmacy accused of firing whistle-blower in fed lawsuit

The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a lawsuit against a local pharmacy for allegedly firing a whistle-blower employee who raised concerns about alleged hazards and “toxic substances” at the 1010 Woodman Drive business.

The lawsuit, filed late last month in Dayton’s federal court, contends that Paschal Okafor, chief pharmacist at Woodman Pharmacy, asked all of the pharmacy’s technicians whether they had filed a complaint with the government that identified alleged safety hazards at the business.

After receiving notice of an OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) complaint, Okafor asked the technicians to “submit to polygraph testing” to gauge whether they contacted OSHA, the lawsuit claims.

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Okafor also asked the technicians to contact him over the weekend and tell him who filed the OSHA complaint,” the suit says.

An employee, Rachel Snyder, told Okafor she would not submit to a polygraph test, the lawsuit says.

“Okafor terminated Snyder’s employment with Woodman Pharmacy,” the lawsuit charges.

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The suit contends that the pharmacy discriminated against Snyder by terminating her employment.

The lawsuit seeks to enjoin and restrain the pharmacy, payment of lost wages and benefits, including interest, removal of disciplinary action from Snyder’s record, punitive damages and more.

Reached Wednesday, Okafor disagreed with the lawsuit’s contentions, saying: “I don’t think that’s the case.” He declined to elaborate and referred questions to an attorney.

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