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Bursell v. General Electric Co.8/2/2005
ea Hughes, the human resources manager, Todd Best, an ombudsman, and a security guard. Hughes informed plaintiff of the missing computers. Plaintiff "assured [Hughes] right then that didn't have anything to do with the laptop missing." Hughes informed plaintiff that "none of the stories matched up, and that she was going to have to take drastic steps, and she was suspending [plaintiff] from work because of the [theft] of the laptop computers." Plaintiff told Hughes that "what she was doing was wrong" and that "she was questioning integrity." As the security guard escorted plaintiff from the building, plaintiff felt "there were employees looking at me like I was a convict." When plaintiff returned to work, he "was harassed by people." As plaintiff explained:
People would call back there in the area where the phone was at and if I spoke in it, they would say, "Thief." Several times I've been called at home, harassed on the telephone. People pointing at me. People that had never been back there in-in shipping-that I had never seen-you could see them underneath the tables pointing to me . . . .
Plaintiff became "very paranoid and very nervous and very panicky." He appealed his suspension to a peer review committee, which issued plaintiff a written reminder regarding breaks away from the work station. The peer review committee found no evidence that plaintiff had stolen anything. From the above-referenced testimony, we conclude there was competent evidence to support the Commission's findings that plaintiff was "accused of theft." Although General Electric may never have directly and explicitly informed plaintiff that it believed he had stolen the missing property, such an accusation was clearly implied in every way. Hughes informed plaintiff he was being suspended "because of the theft of the laptop computers." Certainly, it is obvious from plaintiff's testimony that he believed he was being accused of theft, and that other employees believed the same. Persons harassed plaintiff at work and called him "Thief." The peer review committee specifically found there was no evidence that plaintiff had stolen anything. The Commission's findings that plaintiff was "accused of theft" are therefore supported by the evidence.
Likewise, we find support in the evidence for the Commission's finding that "Plaintiff received a letter from the peer review committee reminding him of rules regarding breaks away from the workstation. Defendant-employer did not find any evidence that plaintiff had stolen anything." Contrary to defendants' argument, we do not agree that the finding was either incomplete or misleading.
However, we agree with defendants that there is no evidence in the record to support the Commission's numerous findings thatplaintiff was "fired" from his position at General Electric. Rather, plaintiff testified he was placed on "crisis suspension." Although plaintiff testified he "didn't know what a crisis suspension was[,]" plaintiff never testified that anyone from General Electric informed him he was fired, or that he believed himself to be terminated. As such, the Commission erred in finding that plaintiff was "fired," and these findings must be set aside. Our action in doing so, however, does not afford defendants an alternative basis for sustaining the Commission's opinion and award, see N.C. R. App. P. 10(d) (2005), because whether plaintiff was fired or disciplined in some other way, under the circumstances in this case, is not determinative of the issue of whether he suffered a injury by accident. As we have noted above, the issue to be determined is whether the actions taken by defendant General Electric's employees with respect to plaintiff on 26 October 1999 were "un
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