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Bursell v. General Electric Co.8/2/2005
Plaintiff appeals from an opinion and award of the North Carolina Industrial Commission concluding that plaintiff had failed to show he suffered an injury by accident or an occupationaldisease. For the reasons that follow, we affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand this case to the Commission.
On 4 October 2001, plaintiff filed a notice of accident to his employer, defendant General Electric Company ("General Electric"), alerting the company he had sustained "psychiatric trauma due to false accusation of theft by the company" on the afternoon of 26 October 1999. General Electric denied plaintiff's claim, and the case came for hearing before the Industrial Commission ("the Commission") on 14 October 2003.
The relevant facts, as found by the Commission, are as follows: plaintiff began employment with General Electric in 1979. In October of 1999, at the time of the alleged injury, plaintiff worked in General Electric's aircraft section, where his duties "mainly consisted of gathering components together to make an engine kit to ship to Ohio." On 26 October 1999, plaintiff assisted other employees in packing laptop computers into boxes. Plaintiff remarked that it was unusual to be packing laptop computers for surplus. At the end of plaintiff's shift, the packed boxes containing the computers were "put to the side for pickup on the next day."
Two days later, managers for General Electric summoned plaintiff for a meeting. Plaintiff believed he was being sought out for receipt of an award. Instead, he was informed that some ofthe laptop computers he packed were missing from the shipment. Plaintiff denied any knowledge of the missing computers. The Commission found that Andrea Hughes, a human resources manager for General Electric, told plaintiff she had interviewed the other employees who had packed the computers; that "none of their stories matched;" and that she was therefore "firing" him. Plaintiff was then escorted to his locker by a security guard, who took plaintiff's employee identification badge and escorted him to the parking lot, where he removed the parking sticker from plaintiff's vehicle. Plaintiff was "extremely surprised and upset that he had been fired." The other employees were also fired.
The following week, General Electric requested that plaintiff return to work. When he returned, plaintiff was given a document called "decision making leave" and was advised he had been on "crisis suspension" because he was observed away from his work area and in the parking lot without permission on 26 October 1999. He was further cited for failing to secure property under his control. Plaintiff appealed the crisis suspension to a peer review committee. At the review hearing, plaintiff was "visibly shaking." The peer review committee sent plaintiff a letter reminding him of rules regarding breaks away from the workstation. General Electric found no evidence that plaintiff had stolen anything.
When plaintiff returned to work, many employees asked himabout the incident. He was harassed and called "a thief." The Commission found that " eople were constantly pointing at plaintiff" and that he became "nervous, panicky and paranoid." He could not sleep at night and began having panic attacks. Plaintiff sought assistance for his symptoms and was referred through his employment to Dr. Koff, a clinical psychologist, who diagnosed him with "adjustment disorder with mixed features." Dr. Koff testified that, but for the October 1999 incident, plaintiff most likely would not have developed his condition.
Plaintiff also sought treatment with Dr. Robert Weinstein, who diagnosed plaintiff with "major depression with obsessions." Dr. Weinstein tre
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