ACCOMACK CO., Va. – A former Accomack County Department of Public Safety employee’s lawsuit alleging sex discrimination, harassment, and retaliation is set to go before a federal jury this fall.
Jada Marshall sued the department in 2025, alleging she was subjected to a sex-based hostile work environment while working as a Fire Medic Recruit and was ultimately fired in retaliation for reporting alleged harassment. Accomack County DPS denies the allegations.
According to court filings obtained by WBOC, Marshall was 18 years old when Fire Academy instructor Phillip Kelly, who Marshall says was about 65 at the time, sent her a text in October 2023 stating he would ask her out if he were not married. Marshall alleges her supervisor, Capt. Shawn Malone, later made demeaning and sexually charged comments about her after she reported the message.
Text messages submitted by Jada Marshall in federal court allegedly from Fire Academy instructor Phillip Kelly.
DPS disputes Marshall’s account of how her complaint was handled. The department says Malone reported Kelly’s message to DPS Director Charles Pruitt, who confronted Kelly, told him the message was inappropriate, and directed him to have no further contact with Marshall.
Marshall was fired in March 2024 after submitting clinical training documentation containing an incorrect date, according to her suit against DPS. She maintains she completed the required hospital shift and made a clerical error that she was not allowed to correct. DPS argues the inaccurate documentation, along with other alleged performance issues, provided legitimate reasons for her termination.
In January, U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson denied DPS’s motion to dismiss Marshall’s three Title VII claims, allowing allegations of a hostile work environment, sex discrimination, and retaliation to move forward. The ruling did not determine whether Marshall’s allegations are true, only that she had sufficiently shown “an inference of unlawful discrimination.”
“The Court finds it plausible that sex discrimination was the the true reason for this adverse employment action,” Jackson wrote in his memorandum denying DPS’ motion to dismiss. “ As such, Plaintiff has met her burden at this stage in alleging a causal nexus between the sex discrimination and the adverse action Defendant took against her.”
On Friday, Aug. 21, the court entered its final pretrial order. The case is now scheduled for a jury trial beginning Oct. 6 in Norfolk, according to court records, where jurors will be asked to resolve the competing accounts surrounding Marshall’s treatment and termination.
WBOC reached out to both parties’ legal teams on Monday for comment, including on whether a settlement could still be reached ahead of the scheduled trial.
“As with any case, we hope the parties can reach a settlement, but Ms. Marshall is prepared for trial and expects to win,” Joshua Erlich, representing Marshall, said. “It is undisputed that Phillip Kelly, a sixty-five-year-old employee of the Accomack County Department of Public Safety, sent our teenage client inappropriate text messages. Accomack did not meaningfully investigate or take any action against Kelly. Instead, they retaliated against Ms. Marshall.”
WBOC has yet to hear back from the Accomack County Attorney’s Office and the attorneys representing Accomack County’s Department of Public Safety in this case. This article will be updated.
