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SUAREZ v. DICKMONT PLASTICS CORPORATION2/18/1997
the context of a small, family owned corporation in which a foreman has substantial responsibilities and authority, such as in this case, corporate responsibility should not be limited simply because the employee's title is that of foreman. In other words, it is a question of fact whether the managerial employee is sufficiently high in the chain of command to be considered the alter ego of the corporate employer without respect to the employee's formal title.
The jury reasonably could have found the following facts that are necessary to the resolution of this issue. After Richard Scalise, Sr., the owner of the defendant, and his son, Richard Scalise, Jr., then vice president, would leave for the day between 5 and 6 p.m., Santiago oversaw the entire plant operation during the remainder of the plaintiff's shift, which began at 4 p.m. During the overlapping period between the beginning of the night shift and the time that the Scalises would leave for the day, management would give Santiago instructions necessary for the operation of the night shift. As foreman, Santiago was, as Richard Scalise, Jr., testified, the "eyes and ears" of management and the defendant's "key man" and, therefore, was responsible for enforcing workplace rules and procedures. Santiago reported directly to the Scalises and never gave instructions contrary to the Scalises' wishes.
The Scalises always encouraged the employees not to waste material. In the Scalises' view, production would ideally run as closely to the end of the shift as possible, without the machines being shut down fifteen minutes before the end of the shift to clean out the material. Furthermore, the Scalises knew that the machines were not always turned off when the floormen, such as the plaintiff, cleaned out the hot material. As the night shift foreman, Santiago instructed floormen to remove hot material from the hopper while the machines were still operating and admonished the floormen that they were not allowed to remove the material from the machines with a vacuum cleaner. Santiago would also "yell" at the employees if he thought they were wasting material in the cleaning process.
In Jett v. Dunlap, 179 Conn. 215, 219, 425 A.2d 1263 (1979), this court stated that attribution of corporate responsibility predicated on the alter ego theory "is inappropriate where the actor is merely a foreman or supervisor." Jett, however, does not, and never was
intended to, adopt a bright line rule precluding attribution of corporate responsibility based solely on an employee's title as foreman or supervisor. For example, a person whose position is designated as foreman may occupy a position of great authority within the corporate structure that would make him or her the alter ego of the corporation. On the other hand, the title foreman may be ascribed to a mere "straw boss."
The proper inquiry should ascertain the specific responsibilities or level of authority that a particular employee may have within a business organization, without regard to his or her title. See Griffith v. Keystone Steel & Wire, 887 F. Sup. 1133, 1139-40 (C.D.Ill. 1995) (foremen were not defendant's alter egos because they were only one of several layers of supervisory employees and had no direct influence on control or direction of defendant corporation). Nevertheless, I do not mean to suggest that an employer may be liable under a common-law tort action whenever an employee has intentionally injured a coemployee within the course of employment. Nor do I mean to suggest that the injured employee "would have only to show that the assailant was one notch higher on the totem-pole than the victim. . . ." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Jett v. Dunlap, supra, 17
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