Opinion ID: 158830
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Workers’ Compensation

Text: 2 Defendants filed a motion to strike sections of Plaintiff’s reply brief. The matter was referred to the merits panel. Defendants claim that Plaintiff raises a new argument for the first time in his reply brief. The argument relates to whether Defendants’ stated reason for terminating Plaintiff was pretextual. Because we hold Plaintiff failed to establish his prima facie ADA case, the issue of whether Defendants’ nondiscriminatory reason for terminating Plaintiff was a pretext is irrelevant. The motion is DENIED. 9 Plaintiff also claims that Defendants violated § 5(A)(2) of the Oklahoma Workers’ Compensation Act by terminating him while he was receiving temporary total disability benefits. Section 5(A)(2) of the Oklahoma Workers’ Compensation Act provides, “No person, firm, partnership or corporation may discharge an employee during a period of temporary total disability solely on the basis of absence from work.” Okla. Stat. tit. 85, § 5(A)(2). However, § 5(B) states, “No employer shall be required to rehire or retain any employee who is determined physically unable to perform his assigned duties. The failure of an employer to rehire or retain any such employee shall in no manner be deemed a violation of this section.” Id. § 5(B). We recently construed the interaction of §§ 5(A)(2) and 5(B) in Wiles v. Michelin North America, Inc., 173 F.3d 1297 (10th Cir. 1999). In Wiles, we concluded that pursuant to § 5, “an employer may not discharge an employee during a period of temporary total disability solely because of the employee’s absence from work. An employer may, however, discharge an employee during a period of temporary total disability because the employee cannot perform his assigned job duties.” Id. at 1304. The record indicates that Defendants terminated Plaintiff because he was physically unable to perform his job. Plaintiff, while remaining on temporary total disability, advised Defendants he would never be able to return to his route driving job, and Plaintiff’s doctor subsequently confirmed this. Accordingly, Plaintiff did not establish that Defendants terminated him solely on the basis of absence from work in 10 violation of the Oklahoma Workers’ Compensation Act. IV. Intentional and/or Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress Plaintiff argues Defendants committed intentional and/or negligent infliction of emotional distress because they intentionally violated the laws and public policy of Oklahoma. Oklahoma does not recognize a separate tort for negligent infliction of emotional distress but does recognize the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED). See Gaylord Entertainment Co. v. Thompson, 958 P.2d 128, 149 (Okla. 1998). Consequently, Plaintiff must establish the elements of IIED: (1) Defendants acted intentionally or recklessly; (2) Defendants’ conduct was extreme and outrageous; (3) Plaintiff actually experienced emotional distress; and (4) Plaintiff’s emotional distress was severe. See id. at 149 n.92 (quoting Restatement (Second) of Torts § 46). Plaintiff must show Defendants’ conduct exceeded “all possible bounds of decency or was utterly intolerable in a civilized community. Id. at 149 n.93 (quoting Eddy v. Brown, 715 P.2d 74, 76 (Okla. 1986)). Plaintiff points to no facts in the record to support his claim that Defendants engaged in outrageous and extreme conduct. Therefore, Plaintiff did not establish a claim for IIED. AFFIRMED. 11