Opinion ID: 1359236
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the instructions given were consistent with oklahoma retaliatory discharge law.

Text: The employer asserts that without the requested instruction, the jury was misled as to the legal significance of the employee's misconduct. Truckstops insists that the jury heard evidence regarding Mosley's admitted falsifications of his employment application and his health insurance form, and that without the proposed instruction it could not fully consider the employee's misconduct contrasted to his claim for relief. The employee contends that the instructions that were given allowed the jury to fully consider evidence of his misconduct. Instructions are explanations of the law of a case which enable a jury to understand its duty and to arrive at a correct conclusion. [21] The instructions need not be ideal, but they must reflect the Oklahoma law regarding the subject at issue. [22] The employee brought an action for retaliatory discharge for filing a workers' compensation claim. The rule of law concerning retaliatory discharge is stated in Buckner v. General Motors Corp., 760 P.2d 803, 810 (Okla. 1988). In summarizing this Court's previous decisions concerning retaliatory discharge we noted in Buckner that Thompson v. Medley Material Handling, Inc., 732 P.2d 461, 463-64 (Okla. 1987); Elzey v. Forrest, 739 P.2d 999, 1002-03 (Okla. 1987); and Pierce v. Franklin Electric Co., 737 P.2d 921, 924 (Okla. 1987) stand for the following propositions: 1) that the protection of § 5 is limited to good faith actions taken by an employee who has suffered a work-related injury; 2) that an employer may, without incurring tort liability, discharge an employee who is physically unable to perform job duties; 3) that the employee must offer evidence to establish circumstances giving rise to a legal inference that discharge was significantly motivated by retaliation for the exercise of statutory rights; and 4) that if retaliation motivations comprise a significant factor in an employer's decision to terminate an employee, even though other legitimate reasons exist to justify the termination, the discharge violates the intent of § 5. Here, the jury was instructed that: 1) the burden is on the employee to establish by a preponderance of the evidence the elements necessary to establish a claim under § 5; [23] 2) the defendant may discharge an employee because an employee is absent from work, even when the absence is caused by injury and medical treatment; and 3) the defendant may show the employee's discharge was for additional legitimate, non-retaliatory reasons. [24] The standard of review is whether there is a probability that the jury was mislead and thereby reached a different result than it would have reached but for the error. [25] Where there is any competent evidence reasonably tending to support the verdict of the jury, this Court will not disturb the verdict and judgment. [26] The testimony and evidence at trial established circumstances which gave rise to a legal inference that the discharge was significantly motivated by retaliation for exercising statutory rights. Mosley testified that Truckstops informed him that if he filed a workers' compensation claim he could be fired for not following Truckstops' procedure. The employee presented evidence through phonebills and the employer's written work schedules that he had contacted Truckstops about taking off work to recuperate. There is also dispute as to the actual date of termination. [27] Under these circumstances  contradictory testimony of both parties and the dispute over the timing of the employee's termination  a retaliatory motive may have been suggested. It was for the trier of fact, in this case the jury, who observed the demeanor of the witnesses and heard their testimony, to decide the credibility of the witnesses and the effect and weight to be given conflicting or inconsistent testimony. [28] Because a jury instruction based upon Summers v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 864 F.2d 700, 708 (10th Cir.1988) is not consistent with Oklahoma retaliatory discharge law, we cannot say that a jury relying on the instruction given may have reached a different result had the instruction been worded differently. [29]