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Davenport v. City and County of Honolulu12/30/2002
nt arising out of and in the course of the employment includes the wilful act of a third person directed against an employee because of the employee's employment.
No compensation shall be allowed for an injury incurred by an employee by the employee's wilful intention to injury oneself or another or by the employee's intoxication. HRS § 386-3 (1993).
In Mitchell v. Department of Educ., 85 Hawaii 250, 942 P.2d 514 (1997), disciplinary measures taken by Claimant Regina Mitchell's employer caused her to suffer a stress-related injury . See id. at 251, 942 P.2d at 515. Mitchell claimed that the injury was therefore compensable under HRS chapter 386, while her employer maintained that such an injury did not fall within the scope of Mitchell's employment. See id. On appeal, the sole issue before this court was "whether an employee's stress-related injury resulting from disciplinary action taken by an employer in response to an employee's misconduct is a compensable injury under HRS § 386-3 (1985)." Id. at 254, 942 P.2d at 518. In determining whether Mitchell's misconduct involved a "prohibited overstepping of the boundaries defining the ultimate work to be done by the claimant[,]" id. at 255, 942 P.2d at 519 (citation omitted), this court distinguished between "(1) an unauthorized departure from the course of employment and (2) the performance of a duty in an unauthorized manner[,]" id. (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). It was determined that Mitchell was disciplined for actions she engaged in while performing a duty of her employment, albeit in an unauthorized manner. See id.
As for the question of whether injuries arising from disciplinary actions were compensable, the Mitchell court, guided by the "plain language of the statute and the legislature's intent that work-related injuries be considered as a cost of doing business[,]" held it was "compelled to hold [the injury ] compensable under HRS § 386-3." Id. at 257, 942 P.2d at 521 (citation omitted). Specifically addressing the issue of whether mental stress-related injuries that arose out of and in the course of the employment should be excepted from coverage under the statute, Mitchell noted that "many jurisdictions with statutes similar to HRS chapter 386 [(1985)] have expressly amended them to exclude from coverage psychological or stress-related injuries resulting from good faith disciplinary actions." Id. It was concluded that absent such an exclusion, a stress related injury was a covered injury under the worker compensation statute:
In the absence of an express exception in HRS § 386-3, we cannot unilaterally pronounce one. To do so would run counter to the clear import of HRS § 386-3. If the legislature should deem it advisable in the future, it can . . . amend HRS chapter 386 to exclude from coverage those injuries resulting from disciplinary action taken in good faith by the employer. However, unless and until the Hawai'i legislature chooses to amend HRS chapter 386, we are compelled to reach the result we have today. Id.
Intervening amendments made to the 1985 version of HRS § 386-3 are not material to the instant case (referred to herein as the pre-1998 version).
II.
In its opinion, the ICA discussed the effect of the 1998 amendment on Davenport's claims. As the ICA indicated, in 1998, the legislature responded to the Mitchell invitation by adding HRS § 386-3(c), which excluded stress related injury arising from disciplinary action from worker compensation coverage, to HRS § 386-3. See ICA opinion at 23. The new sub-section carved out the category of claims involved in Mitchell, stating that " claim for mental stress resulting solely from disciplinary ac
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