Opinion ID: 2139392
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Gulati's claim.

Text: In 1967, Romesh Gulati was hired as a Machinist Federal Inspector for Burlington Northern Railroad. In 1975, Gulati injured his hand during the course of his employment with the railroad. He brought suit on September 21, 1977, to recover damages under the FELA for lost wages and permanent disability of his hand. Burlington Northern settled Gulati's suit on March 10, 1980, agreeing to pay Gulati $47,250 and to allow Gulati to continue working as a machinist for the railroad company. On July 31, 1980, Burlington Northern sent Gulati a notice that the company was investigating him for allegedly falsifying a time card. He was requested to appear at a hearing concerning this charge. Gulati maintained that he had pencilled on his card 6:30 p.m. as the time of his departure on July 28, 1980, and that a co-employee had erased this time and written, in its place, 11:00 p.m. Upon investigation, the railroad dropped the charge against Gulati. It did not, however, further investigate the matter, nor did it bring charges against the co-employee accused of forging Gulati's card. On August 4, 1980, Burlington Northern sent another notice to Gulati, alleging that he had been involved in an altercation during working hours. He was once again requested to appear at an investigatory hearing. Gulati stated that without provocation a co-employee had sprayed him with a water hose and that he had immediately reported the actions of the co-employee to a supervisor. Burlington Northern dropped the rule-violation charge against Gulati. It did not, however, pursue any disciplinary action against the co-employee whom Gulati had named as the one who sprayed him with water. During the summer of 1980, an employee of Burlington Northern witnessed two railway employees ransacking Gulati's personal locker. At the time Gulati's locker was allegedly being searched, Gulati was allegedly being detained by a railroad supervisor. The witness noted that the searching of lockers was not a common practice of railroad officials. Gulati maintains that from March to September, 1980, he was continually subjected to racial slurs from employees of Burlington Northern. Such comments included: Come over here, Indian, That stinking Arab, Where's your camel parked? and Does your camel have one hump or two? One employee stated that he had heard Burlington Northern officials say, We will get that S.O.B. (referring to Gulati) and, Have you had any luck getting that S.O.B. 'cause I know you are trying? On September 5, 1980, Burlington Northern notified Gulati that the company was investigating him for allegedly leaving work one day without proper authorization. Gulati was requested to appear at an investigatory hearing. After the hearing, the railroad discharged Gulati for the unexcused absence. Gulati appealed this decision to the National Railroad Adjustment Board, Public Law Board No. 3008, which voted 2-1 to uphold his permanent discharge from employment. Six months after his discharge from Burlington Northern, on March 30, 1981, Gulati suffered a heart attack at the age of 40. After his discharge he also began consulting a psychiatrist. Gulati filed suit against Burlington Northern in Hennepin County District Court on April 12, 1982. He alleged that Burlington Northern breached the 1980 settlement of his FELA claim; that the company wrongfully discharged him; and that it inflicted emotional distress on him through a pattern of harassment and surveillance. Burlington Northern petitioned to have Gulati's claims removed to federal district court under 28 U.S.C. § 1441 (1982), a petition that was denied by the federal court on September 10, 1982. [3] Thereafter, Burlington Northern moved for summary judgment in state court. The district court granted the railroad's motion on two of Gulati's claims, concluding that Gulati's wrongful-discharge and breach-of-contract claims were preempted by the Railway Labor Act. The court, however, denied the railroad's motion to dismiss the claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress on similar preemption grounds. Burlington Northern then petitioned the court to certify the preemption question to the Minnesota Court of Appeals under Rule 103.03(h) of the Minnesota Rules of Civil Appellate Procedure. The court granted the motion and certified the following question, as important and doubtful, to the appeals court: Does the Railway Labor Act and/or the Federal Employer's Liability Act preempt state court jurisdiction over plaintiff's claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress? The court of appeals answered the certified questions in the negative, stating that the Federal Employers' Liability Act does not preempt state-court jurisdiction over a claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress and that, although the Railway Labor Act does preempt a claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress where the distress results from a discharge by a railroad, it does not preempt such a claim where the emotional distress results from a pattern of employer harassment. Gulati v. Burlington Northern Railroad Co., 364 N.W.2d 446 (Minn.Ct.App.1985). We granted Burlington Northern's petition for further review on May 24, 1985, and now answer the certified questions in the negative.