The Application of Absence Control Policies to Retaliatory Discharge Litigation
Today, the Texas Supreme Court issued an opinion in the matter of Kingsaire, Inc. v. Melendez reversing a judgment by the Court of Appeals upholding a jury verdict in favor of plaintiff Jorge Melendez against defendant Kings Aire, his former employer. In this retaliatory discharge case, Melendez alleged that Kings Aire fired him for filing a workers’ compensation claim after he was injured by a falling object in his demolition job. However, the evidence demonstrated that Kings Aire actually assisted him in applying for workers’ compensation benefits and retained him as an employee until he exhausted his leave pursuant to a policy that was uniformly and consistently applied to its employees. At that time, Kings Aire discharged him by letter citing the policy and inviting him to seek reinstatement after his physician cleared him to work.
The principal issue addressed by the Texas Supreme Court whether the Court of Appeals erred by rejecting a legal-sufficiency challenge that no evidence established discrimination or retaliation. Ultimately, the Court answered this question in the affirmative, holding that there was legally insufficient evidence to support the verdict in favor of Melendez. Specifically, it identified that the evidence merely established that his termination resulted from the uniform enforcement of a reasonable leave policy, which does not constitute a retaliatory discharge under Continental Coffee Products Co. v. Cazarez and renders circumstantial evidence otherwise supporting a causal link between the reported work injury and subsequent termination immaterial. The concurrence authored by Justice Guzman highlights that the leave policy defense is an inferential rebuttal defense (which rebuts an essential element the plaintiff has the burden to prove) rather than an affirmative defense (which enables a defendant to avoid liability even when the plaintiff has successfully proven all elements of the cause of action) and is therefore subsumed in the liability question.
In summary, this opinion further reinforces the rule that the adherence of an employer to a uniformly applied absence control policy will immunize it from a wrongful discharge claim under the Act.
A complete copy of the opinion may be found here: http://www.txcourts.gov/media/1190163/140006.pdf
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