Opinion ID: 1347613
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Summary Judgment on the Appellant's Alleged Constructive Discharge

Text: The appellant next argues that Mr. Bowden and RCESA created working conditions that compelled her to resignincluding the appellees' violation of W.Va.Code, 23-5A-2, as well as other actions by the appellees. As with the first claim, the circuit court granted summary judgment on this claim based upon its interpretation of the evidence, concluding that the appellant resigned only because she needed money to pay future premiums that RCESA was not obligated to pay. The appellant contends that the evidence on this issue is substantially in conflict, and that because material questions of fact remain, summary judgment was improper. We agree. We set out the standards for proving a claim of constructive discharge in Syllabus Point 6 of Slack v. Kanawha County Housing and Redevelopment Auth., 188 W.Va. 144, 423 S.E.2d 547 (1992), where we held: In order to prove a constructive discharge, a plaintiff must establish that working conditions created by or known to the employer were so intolerable that a reasonable person would be compelled to quit. It is not necessary, however, that a plaintiff prove that the employer's actions were taken with a specific intent to cause the plaintiff to quit. In light of Syllabus Point 6 of Slack, we believe that the record in this case creates a question of fact regarding whether the appellant was constructively discharged. As indicated previously, it can be inferred from the record that the appellant resigned so that she could withdraw money from her retirement account to reimburse RCESA for past medical insurance premiums, and to pay those premiums prospectively. The appellant faced the prospect of continuing on unpaid leave with no insurance and, after months without pay, returning to her job to face a debt for past insurance premiumsor quitting and paying past and future premiums now. These facts suggest that Mr. Bowden and RCESA created working conditions under which a reasonable person would quit. While the appellees may not have intended to force the appellant to resign, their actions had that effect. Other circumstances, beyond the medical insurance issue and the evidence of discrimination under W.Va.Code, 23-5A-1 and -2, are also relevant to the constructive discharge question. When Mr. Bowden learned that the appellant would be filing a workers' compensation claim, he insisted that she request an unpaid leave of absence whereby she would forego employer-paid medical insurance benefitsdespite the appellant's protected status as an employee who was off work with a work-related disability. See, e.g., W.Va.Code, 23-5A-3 [1990] (prohibiting an employer from discharging an employee who is receiving or eligible to receive temporary disability benefits). Furthermore, RCESA refused to consider any type of light duty for the appellant. There was no apparent reason given for this refusal, particularly in light of the fact that the appellant had previously been placed on light duty work for a nonoccupational health problem, and Mr. Bowden's assertion that the appellant's job only required the repetitive use of her hands 20% of the time. Finally, RCESA refused to permit the appellant to fulfill her duties as chairperson of the LEPC, despite her ability to perform those duties, and despite her willingness to perform those duties without compensation. Taken as a whole, a reasonable jury could conclude that the circumstances the appellant faced on June 17, 1996 were such that a reasonable person would have resigned, thus creating a constructive discharge. We therefore find that the circuit court's order granting summary judgment to the defendants on this issue was in error. C.