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Piderit v. Siegal & Sons Investments5/30/2002
this variety: Ourfalian v. Aro Mfg. Co., 31 Mass. App. Ct. 294, 296-297 (1991) (although plaintiff had filed no compensation claim by time of discharge, the complaint alleged that the employer had fired several other employees for filing such claims).
In the present case, however, we need not decide whether the plaintiff had or had not exercised a right under G. L. c. 152 when he was discharged or whether a showing that he had exercised such a right was a precondition for making out a case under á75B(2). Here, the plaintiff fails for want of any showing in the summary judgment materials that his discharge was related to workers' compensation. On the evidence presented, a conclusion that the defendant discharged the plaintiff to avoid a workers' compensation claim would be based solely on the fact that the plaintiff was discharged shortly after sustaining an injury. In this respect the case before us is like Horton v. Miller Chemical Co., 776 F.2d 1351, 1356 (7th Cir. 1985), cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1122 (1986), a case decided under Illinois law, in which the plaintiff, the court decided, had shown no more than that he was injured and that the employer had discharged him ostensibly for the resultant inability to meet the employer's expectations for the job. The evidence offered by this plaintiff at summary judgment was, if anything, even more attenuated than that shown in the Horton case. We agree with the trial judge that, in these circumstances, recognizing the plaintiff's showing as sufficient would in practical effect convert á75B(2) into a prohibition on discharging injured employees. The wording of á75B(2) does not support such a reading.
Judgment affirmed.
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