The North Carolina Retaliatory Employment Discrimination Act (REDA) outlaws discharging emÂÂployees for filing workers’ compensation claims. It’s a protected activity.Â
Equally illegal: Jumping the gun by firing employees before they Âactually fill out the workers’ compensation paperwork. Employees are also protected when they inform a supervisor that they may be filing a claim soon.
Recent case: Shannon worked as a property manager for M&M Properties for just three weeks. While cleaning a hotel room as part of his training, Shannon said he injured himself. He reported the incident to his supervisor and said he wanted to check with his doctor before filing a workers’ compensation claim in case he had merely pulled a muscle.
Meanwhile, the company issued a disciplinary warning, outlining problems encountered during Shannon’s training, such as tardiness and lack of communication. He was fired a few days later.
He went ahead with filing the workers’ comp claim—and then followed up with a REDA lawsuit. The company argued that because Shannon hadn’t filed a claim before he was terminated, he couldn’t argue retaliation.
The court disagreed. Otherwise, employers would be able to fire employees—and dodge liability—as soon as they got hurt. (Fatta v. M&M Properties ManÂÂagement, No. COA11-1397, Court of Appeals of North CaroÂÂlina, 2012)
For more: Â http://www.businessmanagementdaily.com/31679/workers-comp-claim-resist-urge-to-retaliate
