Willard v. Golden Gallon-Tn, LLC

154 S.W.3d 571

Jeff WILLARD v. GOLDEN GALLON-TN, LLC.

No. E2003-02628-COA-R3-CV.

Court of Appeals of Tennessee, Eastern Section, at Knoxville.

June 9, 2004 Session.

August 10, 2004.

Anita B. Hardeman and Kent Thomas Jones, Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the Appellant, Jeff Willard.

Donna J. Gilluly and Rosemarie L. Bryan, Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the Appellee, Golden Gallon-TN, LLC.

SHARON G. LEE, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which HERSCHEL P. FRANKS, P.J. and D. MICHAEL SWINEY, J. joined.

OPINION

This is a retaliatory discharge case wherein the Plaintiff/employee alleged that his employment was terminated, inter alia, in violation of the Family and Medical Leave Act and because he obeyed a lawful subpoena. The Trial Court granted the employer's motion for summary judgment. The employee appealed. We vacate the Trial Court's grant of summary judgment because we have determined that (1) a claim for retaliatory discharge in violation of Tennessee public policy lies in cases where a substantial factor in an employer's decision to terminate an employee is the fact that the employee honored a lawful subpoena, (2) a genuine issue of material fact exists as to whether the employee was terminated for honoring a lawful subpoena, and (3) a genuine issue of material fact exists as to whether the employee was terminated in violation of the Family Medical and Leave Act. Accordingly, we vacate the judgment of the Trial Court and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

From February 21, 2000, until July 29 or 31, 2001, Jeff Willard was employed by Golden Gallon-TN, LLC (hereinafter "Golden Gallon") as an hourly employee in its dairy plant in Hamilton County, Tennessee. An evaluation report generated by Golden Gallon in April of 2000 describes Mr. Willard as "very valuable, flexible" and "dependable" and notes that he is a "quick learner" who "needs little supervision". Later reports and other evidence indicate that Mr. Willard was subsequently tardy and absent from work on multiple occasions.

Although the facts are somewhat in dispute, Mr. Willard and Golden Gallon present various reasons for his failure to appear for work during the course of his employment. In February of 2001, Mr. Willard injured his knee on the job and missed a full day of work. He also missed six to eight partial days for follow-up medical treatment of this injury. Mr. Willard left work on at least six occasions for reasons he said were related to his minor son's attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and bipolar disorder. On several occasions, Mr. Willard missed work to go to his son Thomas' school to prevent his son from being expelled. Mr. Willard missed work one day in June of 2001 after being arrested on child abuse charges which were later dismissed. In late June, 2001, Mr. Willard initiated charges in juvenile court against his twelve year old son, Thomas, alleging that Thomas had sexually molested Mr. Willard's younger son. Mr. Willard was absent from his job because he was required to appear in court several times in connection with the molestation case. Mr. Willard missed at least one day of work to attend the wedding of his mother-in-law, one day for his own wedding, and he missed further time from work when he sought medical attention for shoulder pain. Golden Gallon alleges that Mr. Willard was also absent from work on occasions other than those described herein.

Golden Gallon's employee handbook, a copy of which was furnished to Mr. Willard, provides that excessive absenteeism may lead to termination of employment. The record shows that Mr. Willard was counseled about excessive absenteeism by his supervisor, Gail Smith, in January of 2001 and again on June 4, 2001. On July 23, 2001, Ms. Smith advised Mr. Willard that he had used all of his available vacation time and that she would not give him permission for any additional absences.

On July 31, 2001, a juvenile court hearing was scheduled in the molestation case against Mr. Willard's son. Mr. Willard attests that he advised his son's mother that he "was given a hard time about getting off work and told that if [he] left work [he] would be fired" whereupon she contacted the district attorney who indicated that he would fix the problem by issuing a subpoena for Mr. Willard, thereby leaving him with no choice but to go to court. Mr. Willard was served with the subpoena in the presence of his supervisor, Gail Smith, apparently one to two weeks before the scheduled hearing date. Mr. Willard stated that Gail Smith indicated to him that she did not wish to look at the subpoena and informed him that he "was not to leave work for the court appearance on July 31, 2001, regardless of what the subpoena said." According to Mr. Willard, his employment was terminated by Gail Smith on July 31, 2001, as he was leaving for court with the subpoena in his hand.

On June 5, 2002, Mr. Willard filed a complaint against Golden Gallon in the Circuit Court for Hamilton County alleging that Golden Gallon violated the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), 29 U.S.C. § 2612 and the Tennessee Human Rights Act (THRA), Tenn.Code. Ann. § 4-21-101, et seq. by discharging him. On August 20, 2002, Mr. Willard filed a motion to amend his complaint to include a third cause of action against Golden Gallon, asserting that his employment "was terminated for obeying a valid subpoena from a court of law, in violation of the public policy of the state of Tennessee." On March 6, 2003, Golden Gallon filed a motion for summary judgment accompanied by a statement of material facts. The Plaintiff filed a response agreeing as to some of the facts and disagreeing as to others.

After hearing argument of the parties and reviewing the record, the Trial Court entered an order on September 22, 2003, granting Golden Gallon's motion for summary judgment and dismissing all of Mr Willard's claims. Thereafter, Mr. Willard filed the appeal now before us.

II. ISSUES FOR REVIEW

We review two issues in this appeal:

1. Did the Trial Court err by granting summary judgment and dismissing Mr. Willard's claim of retaliatory discharge in violation of Tennessee public policy?

2. Did the Trial Court err by granting summary judgment and dismissing Mr. Willard's claim of retaliatory discharge in violation of the Family and Medical Leave Act?

III. STANDARD OF REVIEW

Summary judgment proceedings are efficient and effective vehicles for concluding cases that can and should be decided on legal issues alone. However, these proceedings should not serve as a substitute for a trial of genuine and material factual matters. Byrd v. Hall, 847 S.W.2d 208, 210-211 (Tenn.1993); Bellamy v. Federal Express Corp., 749 S.W.2d 31, 33 (Tenn.1988). Summary judgments should be awarded only when the moving party has demonstrated that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. Tenn. R.Civ.P. 56.04; Bain v. Wells, 936 S.W.2d 618, 622 (Tenn.1997); Carvell v. Bottoms, 900 S.W.2d 23, 26 (Tenn.1995).

No presumption of correctness attaches to the lower court's judgment and our task is confined to reviewing the record to determine whether the requirements of Tenn. R. Civ. P. 56 have been met. We must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, which in this case is the Plaintiff, and we must draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the nonmoving party. Staples v. CBL & Associates, Inc., 15 S.W.3d 83, 89 (Tenn.2000).

IV. TERMINATION IN VIOLATION OF PUBLIC POLICY

Applying this standard we now address the issue as to whether the Trial Court erred by granting summary judgment and dismissing the employee's claim that the termination of his employment by Golden Gallon violated Tennessee public policy. Specifically, Mr. Willard contends that Golden Gallon violated public policy because it fired him when he left work to honor the subpoena served upon him in the juvenile court proceeding against his son.

In Tennessee, the general rule is that an at-will employee may be fired for good cause, bad cause or no cause. Payne v. Western & Atlantic Railroad Company, 81 Tenn. 507, 519-520 (1884); Forrester v. Stockstill, 869 S.W.2d 328, 330 (Tenn.1994). However, the employer's right to terminate the employment relationship is not without limitation and the termination of such relationship may, under certain circumstances, give rise to a claim for retaliatory discharge. Both statutory and case law have placed restrictions upon an employer's freedom to discharge an employee, usually for reasons of clear public policy. Chism v. Mid-South Milling Company, Inc., 762 S.W.2d 552, 555 (Tenn.1988).

In Clanton v. Cain-Sloan Co., 677 S.W.2d 441, 445 (Tenn.1984), our Supreme Court first recognized a cause of action for retaliatory discharge of an at-will employee who had been fired for filing a worker's compensation claim. This cause of action was extended to other matters involving public policy in Chism wherein the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that a claim for retaliatory discharge lies in cases where a violation of a clear public policy is a substantial factor in the termination of an at-will employee.

The Tennessee Supreme Court in Chism cited as one example of a clearly defined public policy which warrants the protection provided by a retaliatory discharge action the case of an employee who was discharged because she insisted upon obeying a lawful subpoena. Chism, 762 S.W.2d at 556 (citing Ludwick v. This Minute of Carolina, Inc., 287 S.C. 219, 337 S.E.2d 213 (1985)). This exception was also cited with approval by the Tennessee Supreme Court in the subsequent case of Reynolds v. Ozark Motor Lines, Inc., 887 S.W.2d 822, 824 (Tenn.1994), by the Court of Appeals, Middle Section, in Sloan v. Tri-County Electric Membership Corp., No. M2000-01794-COA-R3-CV, 2002 WL 192571, at *2 (Tenn.Ct.App. Feb.7, 2002), no appl. perm. app., and by...