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Raiola v. Chevron U.S.A.2/24/2004
DATE OF TRIAL COURT JUDGMENT: 6/14/2002
NATURE OF THE CASE: CIVIL-TORTS-OTHER THAN PERSONAL INJURY & PROPERTY DAMAGE
TRIAL COURT DISPOSITION: DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT GRANTED.
DISPOSITION: AFFIRMED - 2/24/2004
. Chevron fired Joseph Raiola and he sued alleging discrimination based on national origin, defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, breach of contract, tortious interference with contract, and negligent hiring and retention. Chevron removed the suit to federal court. The United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi granted Chevron's motion for summary judgment on the federal claims and remanded the state law claims to the Circuit Court of Jackson County. The Circuit Court of Jackson County granted Chevron's motion for summary judgment. As a result, Raiola filed a timely notice of appeal and now requests our review of the following issue:
WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN GRANTING SUMMARY JUDGMENT AS TO RAIOLA'S STATE LAW CLAIMS
STATEMENT OF FACTS
. This is an employment dispute involving the alleged wrongful termination of Joseph Raiola. Raiola's employment with Chevron began in 1978, when he was hired at its Perth Amboy, New Jersey refinery. In 1983, Raiola began working at the Pascagoula, Mississippi refinery. Raiola completed the refinery's mandatory three-year training program and was fully qualified as an operator. In 1992, Chevron promoted Raiola to head operator in the utilities section of the operations department.
. In 1995, Chevron transferred Raiola to work on the crew under the supervision of shift supervisor Buddy Abney. During this time, Abney documented several deficiencies in Raiola's work performance. After sixteen months under Abney's supervision, Chevron asked if Bobby Burkes would accept Raiola on his crew. Burkes agreed and Raiola began working under Burkes's supervision. Raiola was also placed in Chevron's performance improvement plan. According to the terms of the plan, if Raiola's performance did not improve, he faced termination. In 1996, Burkes removed Raiola from the performance improvement plan and allowed him to work on several special projects.
. In 1997, Burkes placed Raiola on a special project to coordinate the shutdown of the boiler. While completing this assignment, Raiola worked independently and without much direct supervision from Burkes. Raiola was informed that he could work as much time as needed to complete the project. Chevron instructed Raiola to report the amount of time actually worked to the particular shift supervisor on duty or directly to Burkes.
. Later that year, several of the shift supervisors in the utilities section began to notice that Raiola was frequently unavailable during the late afternoons. Head operators in the unit began to complain that Raiola was not working a complete shift and was not around to complete his duties. As a result, Ed Hurt, a utilities supervisor, asked Danny Kilgore, a shift supervisor, to run a report of the activity of Raiola's card key to determine the hours Raiola was actually in the refinery. Each employee was assigned a card key for security purposes and the system recorded the time that employees entered and exited the refinery.
. Hurt gave Burkes a copy of the card access report. Burkes compared the report to Raiola's time sheets and noticed several discrepancies. On several occasions, the report showed that Raiola was at the refinery for significantly less time than his time sheets had indicated. Burkes informed his supervisor, Doug Pottenger, of these discrepancies. Pottenger then informed Bill Porter,
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