Snyder v. Medical Service Corporation of Eastern Washington12/2/1999
gel is distinguishable. The Hegel court's holding was in the context of a negligent infliction of emotional distress claim where the plaintiffs, relatives of an injured motorist, arrived shortly after the injury-causing accident. We recently reaffirmed the necessity of objective symptoms. Whaley, 90 Wn. App. at 673.
The mental distress must also "be the reaction of a normally constituted person," absent knowledge by the defendant that the plaintiff has a peculiar characteristic or condition. Hunsley, 87 Wn.2d at 436. These claims are subject to further limits where the suit derives from the employment setting:
The utility of permitting employers to handle workplace disputes outweighs the risk of harm to employees who may exhibit symptoms of emotional distress as a result. The employers, not the courts, are in the best position to determine whether such disputes should be resolved by employee counseling, discipline, transfers, terminations or no action at all. While such actions undoubtedly are stressful to impacted employees, the courts cannot guarantee a stress-free workplace. Therefore, we hold that absent a statutory or public policy mandate, employers do not owe employees a duty to use reasonable care to avoid the inadvertent infliction of emotional distress when responding to workplace disputes. Bishop, 77 Wn. App. at 234-35 (footnote omitted).
This is a workplace dispute.
The workplace is not stress free. Bishop, 77 Wn. App. at 234. Ms. Hall's conduct and actions, again while maybe rude, boorish, and mean-spirited, were in the workplace setting and in furtherance of legitimate work-related topics pay and unpaid overtime work.
And the claim is against MSC. So Ms. Snyder must show that MSC knew of her susceptibility to emotional injury, as well as knew of, condoned, or ignored Ms. Hall's conduct. Hunsley, 87 Wn.2d at 436. She has not done that. Therefore, Ms. Snyder's emotional distress was certainly not foreseeable. Id.
Ms. Snyder relies on Chea v. Men's Wearhouse, Inc. Chea is also distinguishable. There, the defendant employer did not, and indeed could not, argue that the employee's emotional distress was the result of a discipline or workplace dispute. Chea, 85 Wn. App. at 413. The harassment was ethnically motivated discrimination, pure and simple. Id. at 408, 413.
Constructive Discharge.
Ms. Snyder next contends she was constructively discharged. An employer constructively discharges an employee by deliberately making the employee's working conditions intolerable and thereby forcing the employee to resign. Sneed v. Barna, 80 Wn. App. 843, 849, 912 P.2d 1035 (1996). Here, even were we to assume a constructive discharge, the question is whether the discharge was for a legally prohibited reason. Id. at 850.
Washington is a terminable-at-will state. Cole v. Red Lion, 92 Wn. App. 743, 750, 969 P.2d 481 (1998).
So absent a prohibited reason, an employer may terminate an employee at will. Riccobono v. Pierce County, 92 Wn. App. 254, 263, 966 P.2d 327 (1998); Barrett v. Weyerhaeuser Co. Severance Pay Plan, 40 Wn. App. 630, 632-33, 700 P.2d 338 (1985). It does not make any difference whether the employer accomplishes that discharge directly or constructively.
MSC did not know of Ms. Snyder's emotional condition prior to her leave of absence. She cannot show a continuous pattern of "discriminatory" treatment. Ms. Hall was rude, obnoxious, and overbearing. But she did not discriminate; she was rude, obnoxious, and overbearing to all of those in her charge. Clerk's Papers at 34, 54. This was not, therefore, a discriminatory purpose, no matter what the vehicle for dischar
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 Washington Employee Leasing Services
Employee Leasing Services
|