Opinion ID: 1959974
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Retaliation, and Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress Claims

Text: I address the remainder of the majority's opinion briefly. I disagree with the conclusion that no reasonable jury, based on the record before us, could find Ms. Lively's evidence sufficient to establish retaliation. Under the DCHRA it is an unlawful discriminatory practice for an employer to retaliate against a person on account of that person's opposition to any practice made unlawful by the DCHRA. Howard Univ. v. Green, 652 A.2d 41, 45 (D.C.1994) (footnote omitted) (referencing Arthur Young & Co. v. Sutherland, 631 A.2d 354, 361 (D.C.1993)). Ms. Lively had complained about the sexual harassment of Mr. Braswell and Mr. Thornburgh on more than one occasion. As soon as the two-year prohibition on Mr. Braswell's criticism or attacks on Ms. Lively was lifted by FPA's Board chairperson, Mr. Braswell issued a performance evaluation critical of her communications skills, and directed her to submit to diagnostic testing at a facility specializing in learning and brain problems of children. In addition, knowing that she had been working part-time from her home while she was recuperating from hip surgery and faced another operation in July 1993, [2] he nonetheless issued an ultimatum in June 1993 that she return to work full-time or be terminated. Furthermore, FPA refused to pay Ms. Lively the usual severance benefits. All of this conduct [had] the capacity of being considered retaliatory, [and thus, the question of retaliation] bec[a]me an issue for the fact finder, the jury. Fielder, supra, 218 F.3d at 986. The jury found Ms. Lively's evidence sufficient to show retaliation, and, in my view, there was no basis on which to disturb that finding. The trial court apparently vacated the jury's award on Ms. Lively's intentional infliction of emotional distress claim because, without the hostile work environment claim, plaintiff's emotional distress claim is restricted to incidents involving her performance evaluation, discontinuance of worker's compensation benefits, and eventual termination in July, 1993, over seven months after she last appeared at the FPA office. As I indicated earlier in this dissent, in my view, Ms. Lively presented sufficient evidence to establish her hostile work environment claim in a timely manner. She also summarized the devastating impact that appellees' prolonged and repeated practice of sexual harassment, culminating in the personnel actions against her, including the directive to submit to testing at a facility specializing in children's learning disabilities and brain dysfunctions, had on her thirteen year career at FPA: I felt that I had lost everything, except my family, because FPA was my life. I had been there for 13 years when they fired me, and I was just totally devastated. I couldn't eat. I couldn't sleep. I felt paranoid. I closed the blinds. I didn't want my neighbors to see me for I was so afraid that they would think that I did have a communication problem. So the only people I surrounded myself with for about three or four months was immediate family, and I never want to experience that kind of feeling again. I was totally depressed. I don't ever want to go through that again. So devastating were appellees' actions that Ms. Lively had to seek psychiatric counseling. Under our decisions in King v. Kidd, 640 A.2d 656 (D.C.1993); Estate of Underwood v. National Credit Union Admin., 665 A.2d 621 (D.C.1995), Ms. Lively presented evidence sufficient for a reasonable jury to conclude that she sustained her claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress. Similarly, although this is a closer call for me, given my review of the record before us, I cannot say that the evidence was insufficient to support the jury's award of punitive damages, even though I agree with the reversal of Ms. Lively's unequal pay claim. Therefore, I would remand this issue to the trial court for further consideration. In sum, I would affirm the trial court's judgment as to Ms. Lively's unequal pay claim, but reverse its judgment granting judgment as a matter of law, or in the alternative a new trial, with respect to Ms. Lively's hostile work environment, retaliation and intentional infliction of emotional distress claims, and would remand the issue of punitive damages to the trial court for further consideration, except with respect to the unequal pay claim.