Ungerbuehler v. Kelly

Summary

The First District Court of Appeals of Ohio reversed the dismissal on the pleadings of Kayla Ungerbuehler’s claims against her former employers for disability-discrimination-based wrongful discharge and workers’ compensation retaliation. The court held that Ohio’s public policy against disability discrimination may support a common-law wrongful-discharge claim regardless of the employer’s size or whether the worker performed domestic service. It also held that the complaint sufficiently pleaded statutory and common-law workers’ compensation retaliation claims, and remanded the case for further proceedings.

Holdings

1. R.C. Chapter 4112 reflects a sufficiently clear public policy against employment discrimination based on disability to support a common-law Greeley wrongful-discharge claim, and R.C. 4112.01(A)'s definitions of employer and employee do not bar such a claim by a domestic-service employee against a small employer.
2. A workers' compensation retaliation claim under R.C. 4123.90 does not require proof of a workplace injury, a viable underlying workers' compensation claim, or an award of benefits; the relevant inquiry is whether the employee pursued workers' compensation rights and was punished for doing so.
3. A common-law Greeley claim may be brought when an employer terminates an employee to prevent the employee from filing or pursuing workers' compensation benefits, even if the employee had not yet filed a claim and regardless of whether the underlying workers' compensation claim would ultimately be successful.
4. The court did not decide the amendment issue because its resolution of the first three assignments of error rendered the fourth assignment of error moot.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the complaint stated a common-law Greeley wrongful-discharge claim based on Ohio's public policy against disability discrimination even though the defendants allegedly employed fewer than the statutory threshold and the plaintiff performed domestic service.
2. Whether a statutory workers' compensation retaliation claim under R.C. 4123.90 requires a viable underlying workers' compensation claim, a workplace injury, or an award of workers' compensation benefits.
3. Whether a common-law wrongful-discharge claim based on the public policy expressed in R.C. 4123.90 may be brought when the employee was terminated before filing, instituting, or pursuing a workers' compensation claim and regardless of whether the underlying claim would ultimately succeed.
4. Whether the plaintiff should have been granted leave to amend her complaint.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded