Citations
- 939 S.W.2d 793
Full opinion text
OPINION
HOLMAN, Justice.
Robert Heinsohn sued his former employer, Trans-Con Adjustment Bureau, alleging that he suffered a work-related injury and that the company wrongfully terminated his employment because the owner anticipated that the injury would result in a workers’ compensation claim. As soon as Heinsohn rested his case, the trial court granted the company’s motion for a directed verdict on grounds that there was no evidence of damages. Heinsohn appeals. We reverse and remand.
Retaliatory Discharge
Heinsohn based his cause of action on the provisions of article 8307c of the Texas Revised Civil Statutes
No person may discharge or in any other manner discriminate against any employee because the employee has in good faith filed a claim, hired a lawyer to represent him in a claim, instituted, or caused to be instituted, in good faith, any proceeding under the Texas Workmen’s Compensation Act, or has testified or is about to testify in any such proceeding.
Act of April 20,1971, 62nd Leg., R.S., ch. 115, 1971 Tex.Gen.Laws 884, amended by Act of May 12, 1993, 73rd Leg., R.S., ch. 269, § 1, 1993 Tex.Gen.Laws 1235 (current version at Tex.LaboR Code Ann. § 451.001 (Vernon 1996)). The purpose of the statute is to protect persons who are entitled to benefits under the workers’ compensation statute and to prevent them from being discharged because they take steps to collect the benefits. Carnation Co. v. Borner, 610 S.W.2d 450, 453 (Tex.1980).
Whether there is a causal connection between an employee’s termination and claim for workers’ compensation benefits is a fact question on which the employee has the burden of proof by either direct or circumstantial evidence. Palmar v. Miller Brewing Co., 852 S.W.2d 57, 61 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 1993, writ denied). Evidence of a causal connection can include the employer’s knowledge of the claim and a negative attitude by the employer toward the employee’s injured condition. Id. Once the employee establishes a causal link between the claim and the termination, the burden shifts to the employer to rebut the allegations by showing a legitimate reason for the discharge. Id. Moreover, when an employer knows an employee is injured, the employer may not frustrate the purposes of the workers’ compensation law by discharging the employee before the claim can be filed. Mid-South Bottling Co. v. Cigainero, 799 S.W.2d 885, 389 (Tex.App.-Texarkana 1990, writ denied). Merely by the act of notifying the employer of the injury, an injured employee takes steps toward “instituting a compensation proceeding” within the meaning of the statute. Palmer, 852 S.W.2d at 61; Worsham Steel Co. v. Arias, 831 S.W.2d 81, 84 (Tex.App.-El Paso 1992, no writ).
Evidence
The evidence shows that in December, 1989, the company employed Heinsohn as its collections manager. He alleged and testified that while seated and working at his office desk on October 8, 1990, a leg of his chair broke and he fell backward, injuring his back. Heinsohn testified that the company’s owner overheard him say the words “workman’s comp,” and then:
[The owner] come flying out of his office, shook his finger in my face like this and said, “You make a workman’s comp claim, you’re fired.”
And I laughed when he said that because at that point I had no — I mean, it was a nonissue. And he says,