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Horner v. Employees' Retirement System7/21/2005
NOT FOR PUBLICATION
SUMMARY DISPOSITION ORDER
By: Moon, C.J., Levinson, Nakayama, and Acoba, JJ., and Circuit Judge Marks, in Place of Duffy, J., Recused
Appellant-Appellant Thomas M. Horner (Appellant) appeals from the May 21, 2004 order of the circuit court of the first circuit (the court) affirming denial of his application for service-connected disability retirement benefits by Appellee-Appellee Employees' Retirement System (ERS), State of Hawaii (Appellee) pursuant to Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) ยง 88-79(a) (Supp. 2003).
Beginning in 1981, Appellant was employed by the Child Support Enforcement Agency (CSEA) as an investigator. In that job, Appellant's duties included "locating non-custodial parents who owed child support, and interpreting federal regulations regarding child support collection." Appellant testified that his job was "consistently stressful," partly because his office was "perpetually understaffed" and his job responsibilities kept increasing over the years.
From 1984 or 1985 until 1990, Alan Zach (Zach) was Appellant's supervisor. During this time, Appellant expressed frustration at Zach for being an ineffectual supervisor and at many of his other colleagues for their poor work ethic. Another significant source of stress for Appellant was a pending lawsuit against him for gender discrimination brought by a female employee. Despite these matters, Appellant was promoted to Investigative Supervisor in 1989. This position required that he supervise no more than twenty people.
In early 1990, a second female employee filed suit against Zach for sexual assault and against Appellant for failing to provide a safe work environment. Appellant was eventually dismissed from this suit. However, Zach was placed on probation and left CSEA to work at the Medicaid Fraud Unit of the Attorney General's Office.
During his absence, Paul Clifford (Clifford) replaced Zach as Appellant's supervisor. Appellant enjoyed working with Clifford who, according to Appellant, was a more effective and efficient supervisor. However, Clifford soon thereafter retired and Appellant replaced him as acting Branch Supervisor until Zach's return.
Between 1989 and 1990, Appellant was the subject of two separate lawsuits and an investigation for the distribution of illegal cable television descramblers. In June 1990, Appellant was further distressed by the return of Albert Itsudani, a supposed "problem employee" with whom Appellant had a history of interpersonal conflict. Also in June 1990, Zach exercised his civil service return rights to CSEA. Appellant was notified of Zach's return and prior to his return date Zach visited with Appellant at CSEA.
On July 2, 1990, Zach returned to CSEA, replacing Appellant as branch supervisor. On that day, Appellant arrived at work at 6:00 a.m., his usual time, booted up the computers, checked the paper supply, and made coffee. At about 7:00 a.m., Appellant was in his office with the door slightly ajar when Zach arrived. He knocked on Appellant's door, walked in, "bid him good morning, winked, and said, "We are going to have a meeting this morning." Appellant testified at his ERS hearing that his reaction was as follows:
And when I heard those words, it just brought back everything that had happened when he was there with all these meetings. We would all get together everything would be discussed, "What are we going to do," and nothing ever got done. And I think that was the most frustrating part because if it was going to get done, I had to do it.
And so that day, when he opened that door and made the knock and said, "Good morning, Tom," gave me that
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