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Bursell v. General Electric Co.8/2/2005
titute an unexpected, unusual[,] or untoward occurrence; nor did it constitute an interruption of the work routine and the introduction thereby of unusual conditions likely to result in unexpected consequences." Id. at 545, 586 S.E.2d at 546. This Court affirmed the opinion and award of the Commission, stating that " he evidence shows that plaintiff deliberatelyinitiated the meeting with [her supervisor] to voice her disagreement with his decision to award the vacation day to another employee. It is not unexpected that this would lead to a heated discussion involving raised voices on both the part of the supervisor and employee." Id. at 546, 586 S.E.2d at 547. The Knight Court compared its case to Pitillo: the evidence at most reveals the events themselves did not result in injury, but rather that it was plaintiff's emotional response to the meeting, which she had initiated, that resulted in her psychological harm. See Pitillo, 151 N.C. App. at 645-46, 566 S.E.2d at 811. Thus, we conclude the Commission's findings of fact support its conclusion that plaintiff did not suffer a compensable injury by accident.
Id. at 547, 586 S.E.2d at 547.
In the present case, the Commission found that the "sudden meeting and abrupt firing of plaintiff due to accusations of stealing were unexpected and not reasonably designed by plaintiff[.]" The Commission also found that " ince plaintiff did not steal the computers, he had no expectation of being accused of stealing and was extremely surprised, upset and humiliated by his firing." Notwithstanding these findings, the Commission also found that plaintiff had not shown that such "sudden" meetings and "abrupt" firings were "unusual workplace occurrences" and thus concluded that "the meeting with Ms. Hughes and [plaintiff's]subsequent firing [did not] constitute a compensable injury by accident." Plaintiff contends the Commission's conclusion in this regard is unsupported by its findings. We agree.
Unlike Pitillo and Knight, in this case the Commission made no finding that the meeting with Hughes and the events following that meeting were "routine" or "ordinary." Indeed, the Commission specifically found that the meeting was "sudden," "unexpected," and that plaintiff did not initiate the meeting. Further, the Commission found plaintiff's firing was "abrupt." Although the Commission did find that plaintiff had "not shown that [the sudden meeting and abrupt firing] were unusual workplace occurrences," this single, conclusory finding is contradicted by the Commission's multiple other findings regarding the unexpected nature of the events leading to plaintiff's injury. The Commission's conclusion that plaintiff failed to show he sustained an injury by accident is therefore unsupported by its findings and must be reversed.
Defendants argue that plaintiff's firing was a "legitimate personnel action" which did not interrupt the normal work routine and thus could not give rise to any injury "by accident." Compare James R. Martin, Comment, A Proposal to Reform the North Carolina Workers' Compensation Act to Address Mental-Mental Claims, 32 Wake Forest L. Rev. 193, 207 (1997) (arguing that, " f an employer determines that an employee should be transferred, demoted, ordismissed, and does so without violating federal statutes or public policy, then that employer should not be liable for any mental injury resulting from the personnel action. Otherwise, employers would be limited in making their personnel decisions according to which employees they feel are likely to suffer mental injury. Further, insulating employers from liability for legitimate personnel decisions would prevent fired employees from claiming a mental injury due to the suddenness of t
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