Opinion ID: 786114
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Interference with the Attainment of Severance Benefits

Text: 32 A certain sort of wrongful-termination claim, however, can be brought through ERISA. ERISA, 29 U.S.C. § 1140, states that it is unlawful for any person to discharge ... or discriminate against a participant or beneficiary ... for the purpose of interfering with the attainment of any right to which such participant may become entitled under the plan. To succeed, Koons had to prove that Aventis terminated his employment with the specific intent to interfere with his severance benefits. Jefferson v. Vickers, Inc., 102 F.3d 960, 964 (8th Cir.1996). This specific intent is present where the employee's (future or present) entitlement to protected benefits is a motivating factor in the employer's decision. See Regel v. K-Mart Corp., 190 F.3d 876, 881 (8th Cir.1999). A factor is motivating if it can be said that it has a determinative influence on the outcome. Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Prods. Inc., 530 U.S. 133, 141, 120 S.Ct. 2097, 147 L.Ed.2d 105 (2000) (quotation omitted). In other words, Koons had to show that he would not have been terminated had he not been entitled to benefits. 5 33 Because this standard of causation is an inquiry concerning the employer's intent, the three-stage McDonnell Douglas framework applies. Jefferson, 102 F.3d at 964. On appeal from a factfinder's verdict though, the three stages of McDonnell Douglas fade and we focus on the ultimate question of whether the plaintiff carried his burden of proof as to the employer's intent. See St. Mary's Honor Ctr. v. Hicks, 509 U.S. 502, 524, 113 S.Ct. 2742, 125 L.Ed.2d 407 (1993) (`[T]rial courts or reviewing courts should [not] treat discrimination differently from other ultimate questions of fact. Nor should they make their inquiry even more difficult by applying legal rules which were devised to govern the basic allocation of burdens and order of presentation of proof, Burdine, 450 U.S., at 252, 101 S.Ct. 1089.') (quoting U.S. Postal Serv. Bd. of Governors v. Aikens, 460 U.S. 711, 716, 103 S.Ct. 1478, 75 L.Ed.2d 403 (1983)); Ryther v. KARE 11, 108 F.3d 832, 848 (8th Cir.1997) (en banc) (Loken, J., dissenting but writing for the court). 34 The trial court held that Koons failed to prove that he was terminated for the purpose of interfering with his ability to attain severance benefits because Koons failed to persuade the trial court that Aventis' articulated reason for his discharge was pretextual. We approach this determination with a clear-error standard of review. See Anderson v. Bessemer City, 470 U.S. 564, 573, 105 S.Ct. 1504, 84 L.Ed.2d 518 (1985) (stating that a finding of intentional discrimination is a finding of fact); Benham v. Lenox Sav. Bank, 292 F.3d 46, 48 (1st Cir.2002) (applying clear-error standard of review to ERISA § 510, 29 U.S.C. § 1140, determination). The question we must answer is whether the trial court clearly erred in concluding that Aventis did not terminate Koons' employment for the purpose of interfering with his severance benefits. 35 At trial, Koons' basic claim was that Aventis chose to terminate him because it did not want him to receive his severance pay. As support, he adduced the following evidence: he was terminated after fifteen years of exemplary service and one month before his scheduled end date; Shaw and others were aware at the time of Koons' termination that he would lose his severance benefits and Shaw felt that such a loss was a justifiable consequence of his behavior; a degree of personal animosity had developed between him and Shaw over Kneib's early termination; Koons' termination saved Aventis as much as $200,000 in severance benefits and remaining salary; and the cell-phone bill totaled little more than $700. 36 Aventis countered by claiming that it fired Koons for violating company policy. As support, it cited Koons' conduct that it believed was in violation of company policies: his inordinate cell phone usage, the fact he allowed Kneib to keep her cell phone, and his use of the confidential associate address list to mail out his real-estate advertisements. 6 Aventis also presented evidence that it paid over $50 million in severance benefits to the hundreds of other associates who were entitled, and it terminated no other Plan participants for misconduct prior to their end dates. And it showed that Shaw, the person ultimately responsible for Koons' termination, specifically denied that Koons was terminated for the purpose of interfering, even though he felt the consequence was warranted. 37 Koons sought to discredit the employer's articulated reasons by establishing that other employees were not fired under similar circumstances and that he had not violated company policy. As explained above, the conclusion that Koons in fact violated company policy is not clearly erroneous. Koons' only remaining argument is that he was nonetheless terminated for the purpose of interfering with his future entitlement to severance benefits. Extending the factfinding deference required, we conclude the trial court did not clearly err in finding that he was not. 38 Koons' claim that other employees were not terminated under similar circumstances demonstrates little. Koons describes this as disparate treatment. After reviewing the record we see no evidence of any employees who were (1) treated more favorably, (2) `similarly situated in all relevant respects,' EEOC v. Kohler Co., 335 F.3d 766, 776 (8th Cir.2003) (quoting Lynn v. Deaconess Med. Ctr.-West Campus, 160 F.3d 484, 487 (8th Cir.1998)), and (3) outside the plaintiff's protected class, i.e., unendowed with the characteristic that is protected under ERISA — here, a (future or present) entitlement to severance benefits under the Plan. See Hitt v. Harsco Corp., 356 F.3d 920, 925 (8th Cir.2004) (ADEA case stating that more lenient treatment of an assumably comparable employee was not evidence of disparate treatment where the comparable employee was a member of the plaintiff's protected class). To the extent Aventis may have acted inconsistently in disciplining its employees, this does not prove an intent to interfere with his severance benefits. At most, when considered in conjunction with the timing of Koons' termination, it is merely some evidence of an unlawful motive. Given Koons' misconduct in light of the extant Aventis policies, and the fact other employees were terminated for similar misconduct, our standard of review does not give us the ability to make the factual leap from inconsistent treatment to intentional interference. 39 It is also clear from the record that Aventis was not hard-pressed to save money by terminating employees on trumped-up charges of policy violations to void their entitlement to severance benefits. That much is true from the evidence regarding the total amount of severance benefits that were paid to employees under the Plan. Thus, Koons' evidence of a financial motive to interfere with his severance benefits carries little weight. 40 As to the personal animosity that had arisen between Koons and Shaw over the early termination of Kneib, this evidence merely attributes to the employer a motivation which is not unlawful. ERISA does not prohibit employers from firing employees they don't like, so long as their purpose is not to interfere with the employees' benefits. If the animosity was as strong as Koons claims, then it seems unlikely that Koons' entitlement to benefits played any, much less a determinative, role in Aventis' decision. 41 The record does indicate that those who determined Koons should be terminated were aware that he would not be eligible for severance benefits if they terminated him. Indeed, Shaw testified that he believed the loss of severance benefits was a justified consequence of Koons' misconduct. Relief is not warranted under ERISA merely because the employer was disproportionate in its punishment. Hutson, 63 F.3d at 781. And if the loss of severance benefits is only incidental to the termination, Koons would also not be entitled to relief. Regel, 190 F.3d at 881. It is hard, then, to see how an employer's awareness of the consequences of its business decisions attributes to it an unlawful intent, especially to the extent it would take to reverse the trial court's decision at this juncture. Shaw testified that the termination did not hinge on Koons losing his severance pay, and to the extent Koons attacks his credibility, this is typically not a valid ground upon which to overturn a factfinder's conclusion. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 52(a); Anderson, 470 U.S. at 575, 105 S.Ct. 1504.