Court Concludes Employee’s Termination was not Retaliatory
The 13th Court of Appeals has decided a wrongful discharge or discrimination case in favor of a subscribing employer. In Salazar v. Crossroads Mechanical, Inc., No. 13-14-00478-CV (Tex. App. – Corpus Christi, June 11, 2014), an injured worker sued his employer, alleging wrongful termination in retaliation for his filing of a workers’ compensation claim under TEX. LABOR CODE ANN. § 451.001. The employer argued that the employee could present no evidence of a causal connection between his filing of a workers’ compensation claim and his termination—in other words, evidence that but for his filing a workers’ compensation claim, his termination would not have occurred when it did.
The Texas Supreme Court has held that the uniform enforcement of a reasonable absence-control policy does not constitute retaliatory discharge. If an employee’s discharge is required by the uniform enforcement of a reasonable absence-control policy, it cannot be shown that the employee’s termination would not have occurred when it did but for the employee’s assertion of a workers’ compensation claim.
The court of appeals held that the employer had presented evidence of a legitimate reason for the termination—that he violated a written two-day no-call/no-show attendance policy. The court also held that the employee had failed to present any evidence of a similarly situated employee to rebut the employer’s proffered non-discriminatory reason for the termination. The court affirmed the trial court’s take-nothing judgment.
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