Oregon High Court Says Board’s Order Assessing Penalties Against Comp Insurer Lacked Clarity

Illinois Employee’s Termination Not Retaliatory Where it Occurred Six Weeks Prior to His Filing Comp Claim

Where an Illinois employee failed to indicate to his employer that his absence from work was due to an alleged work-related injury and he filed his workers’ compensation claim six...

Ohio Employee’s Termination Linked to Safety Violation, Not His Comp Claim

An Ohio appellate court affirmed a trial court’s decision granting an employer summary judgment in a retaliatory discharge action filed against it by an employee who was terminated soon after...

Lack of Proximity Between Injury and Firing Found to be Fatal to Claim of Retaliatory Discharge

A federal district court in Illinois, construing that state’s law concerning retaliatory discharge claims, held–in relevant part–that a plaintiff’s factual allegations did not give rise to a claim of retaliatory...

Opinion Mondays: Proximity in Time Between Injury and Firing is Not Always Sufficient to Establish Prima Facie Retaliatory Discharge Claim

While proximity of time between an employee’s injury and her firing is generally sufficient to make out a prima facie case for retaliatory discharge, a recent federal district court decision...

Federal District Court Says Proximity of Firing to Filing Claim Was Alone Insufficient to Survive Employer’s Motion for Summary Judgment

Construing Colorado law, a federal district court granted, in relevant part, a former employer’s motion for summary judgment in a case filed against it for retaliatory discharge [Donez v. Leprino...

NY Employer’s Quick Firing After Employee’s Injury Was Retaliatory

A New York appellate court affirmed a determination by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board that an employer violated N.Y. Workers’ Comp. Law § 120 — the state’s anti-retaliation statute —...

“Don’t Lift that Box”: Georgia Worker Fired For Insubordination, Not Because of His Injury

That the firing of a worker has some connection to his or her work-related injury is insufficient, in and of itself, to support an award of temporary disability benefits following...

Oklahoma High Court Finesses Constitutional Issue as to Retaliatory Discharge Statute

In Young v. Station 27, Inc., 2017 OK 68, 2017 Okla. LEXIS 69 (Sept. 12, 2017), the Supreme Court of Oklahoma finessed the constitutionality of the state’s current retaliatory discharge...

New Mexico Employer Need Not Accommodate Medical Marijuana Use

An employer need not accommodate a New Mexico employee’s use of medical marijuana, even when that use is sanctioned under the state’s Compassionate Use Act (“CUA”), held a federal district...

Wyoming High Court Adopts “Substantial and Motivating Factor” Test to Judge Retaliatory Discharge Claim

Adopting the “substantial and motivating factor” test to determine if an employer’s decision to terminate a worker’s employment was retaliatory, the Supreme Court of Wyoming reversed a trial court order...

Colorado High Court Ok’s Firing of Worker For State-Authorized Use of Medical Marijuana

Earlier today, the Supreme Court of Colorado, affirming a split decision of the state’s Court of Appeals, held that under the plain language of Colo. Rev. Stat. § 24–34–402.5, Colorado’s...