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Baines v. Wilson County2/7/2002
This appeal involves a suit for retaliatory discharge brought by the plaintiff against Wilson County, Wilson Emergency Management Agency and the plaintiff's supervisor. The plaintiff asserts that he was fired in retaliation for filing a workers' compensation claim. The trial court dismissed the plaintiff's claim because, it held, Wilson County and Wilson Emergency Management Agency were both immune pursuant to the Tennessee Governmental Tort Liability Act. Further, it held that the plaintiff did not allege a prima facie case of retaliatory discharge against his supervisor because his supervisor was not his employer. We agree and, therefore, affirm the holdings of the trial court.
Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Chancery Court Affirmed and Remanded
Patricia J. Cottrell, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which William C. Koch, Jr. and William B. Cain, JJ., joined.
OPINION
The issue presented to this court is whether the trial court correctly granted the defendant's motion to dismiss based on the pleadings pursuant to Tenn. R. Civ. P. 12.03. When presented such a motion, the court must take all the factual allegations alleged by the plaintiff as true. Waller v. Bryan, 16 S.W.3d 770, 773 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1999). Therefore, we outline those allegations below.
Roy Baines, the plaintiff in the underlying action and the appellant herein, was employed as a firefighter and ambulance driver by the Wilson Emergency Management Agency ("WEMA") and its predecessor from September of 1986 to January 29, 1996. WEMA is a governmental entity and a political subdivision of Wilson County. On or about May 10, 1993, Mr. Baines was injured in a work-related accident and, due to his impairment, filed suit to obtain workers' compensation benefits. The case settled by an Agreed Order for 50% permanent partial impairment.
Thereafter Mr. Baines returned to work with restrictions and was assigned to a position as a dispatcher. Mr. Baines claims the schedule and other requirements of the position caused him to suffer physical exhaustion and emotional stress. Consequently, he took voluntary sick leave and requested that he be placed in another dispatching position with a shorter shift, but that request was denied by his supervisor, Mr. Hale. Shortly thereafter, upon the expiration of Mr. Baines's sick leave, Mr. Hale terminated Mr. Baines's employment.
David Hale, the Chief of WEMA, is solely responsible for all the employment decisions made about the WEMA staff. According to Mr. Baines, Mr. Hale made it known that WEMA employees were not to file lawsuits against WEMA to claim workers' compensation benefits and that if they did so they would be considered unfaithful and no longer allowed to work at WEMA.
Mr. Baines filed suit in Chancery Court for the common law tort of retaliatory discharge against Wilson County, WEMA and Mr. Hale, both individually and in his official capacity. Mr. Baines alleged that Mr. Hale's actions were discriminatory and in retaliation for his filing a workers' compensation claim. The defendants filed a motion to dismiss claiming immunity. The trial court granted this motion, and Mr. Baines is before this court on appeal.
The issue before us is whether the trial court correctly granted the defendants' motion to dismiss, first with respect to the suit against Wilson County and WEMA, and second, as to the suit against Mr. Hale. This is a question of law, therefore the scope of review for the Court of Appeals is de novo with no presumption of correctness for the trial court's conclusion. Montgomery v. Mayor of City of Covington, 778 S.W.2d 444, 445 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1989).
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