Worker’s Retaliation Claims Dismissed Where Employer Implemented And Uniformly Applied Injury-Reporting Disciplinary Policy

A waste-removal driver claimed he injured his back while loading two tree stumps into a truck in 2012.  He did not, however, inform his employer of the claim until seven months later after his employer learned of a filed workers’ compensation claim.  At that time, the employer asked the worker to complete an incident report.  The company handbook provided that employees must report all work-related injuries or be subject to discipline up to and including termination.  The worker twice refused to complete an incident report despite the company’s requests because he had not been able to review the report with his attorney.  The company terminated the worker based on his failure to timely report the incident and insubordination for failure to complete an incident report when asked.  Notably, the company had previously terminated a manager for failing to report an incident and then refusing to discuss the incident with the district manager unless it was in person.

The worker brought various retaliation claims against the company but the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio granted summary judgment to the company.  The court explained that where company policies contemplated disciplinary action up to and including termination for failure to report workplace-related injuries, where the company had previously terminated an employee for failure to provide an incident report even after being asked, and where the worker failed to report the alleged injury for seven months and then refused to submit an injury incident report despite two requests from the company, the worker could not reasonably show that the company’s stated reasons for the termination were pretextual.