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Flint Construction Co. v. Hall12/30/2004
jury, Flint's main office is not large, the offices of the decision-makers and Grams are in close proximity to one another, and the corporate personnel shared a common coffee room where they tended to congregate and converse. The jury had before it substantial evidence that, if accepted, as it obviously was, would support the conclusion that the decision-makers were aware that Hall had suffered an on-the-job injury to his back.
2. Whether Hall Offered Substantial Evidence of "Subsequent Termination of Employment Based Solely Upon the Employee's On-the-Job Injury and the Filing of A Workers' Compensation Claim."
Flint insists that Hall was not discharged because he had filed a workers' compensation claim, but that he was discharged because his absences were excessive and had become a problem for Flint. Flint maintains that the evidence showed that Hall worked far fewer hours than the other men working on the job in Bastrop, that some of Hall's absences could have been attributable to Hall's being at a gambling casino when he should have been working, and that his absences from work had been a problem during 1996, the year before he was discharged. Therefore, Flint concludes, Hall has not established a prima facie case of retaliatory discharge because, it argues, retaliation was not the sole basis for Hall's discharge. Hall argues, however, that the facts are disputed as to whether Flint discharged him because he filed a workers' compensation claim or for some other reason.
Circumstantial evidence of a causal connection between a workers' compensation claim and an employee's discharge is appropriate in a retaliatory-discharge action. Culbreth v. Woodham Plumbing Co., 599 So. 2d 1120 (Ala. 1992). This Court identified in Aldridge certain factors that can be considered as circumstantial evidence of a causal connection between an employee's filing a workers' compensation claim and that employee's discharge.
"'1) knowledge of the compensation claim by those making the decision on termination, 2) expression of a negative attitude toward the employee's injured condition, 3) failure to adhere to established company policy, 4) discriminatory treatment in comparison to similarly situated employees, 5) sudden changes in an employee's work performance evaluations following a workers' compensation claim, and 6) evidence that the stated reason for the discharge was false.'"
854 So. 2d at 564-65 (quoting Chhim v. University of Houston, 76 S.W.3d 210, 218 (Tex. Ct. App. 2002)). Furthermore, we observed that " any states also consider ' roximity in time between the filing of the workers' compensation claim and discharge' a persuasive factor in establishing a causal connection." Aldridge, 854 So. 2d at 565 (quoting Rebarchek v. Farmers Coop. Elevator & Mercantile Ass'n, 272 Kan. 546, 555, 35 P.3d 892, 899 (2001)).
Several of the foregoing elements are present in this case. Hall was injured on April 7, 1997, and filed a worker's compensation claim shortly thereafter; he was discharged approximately two months later on June 4, 1997. As previously discussed, whether the decision-makers knew that Hall had injured his back at work was a jury question that the jury resolved in Hall's favor. In addition, Hall presented evidence the jury could have interpreted as indicating a negative attitude on the part of the decision-makers toward his injured condition. Hall testified that Grams had pointed out to him how much money his knee injuries had cost Flint. Hall also testified that he had experienced difficulty in obtaining authorization from Grams for both an appointment with a doctor and for medical tests requested by that doctor in an effort to diagnose the specifi
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