Court Opinion

ID: 9749012
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 16:21:13.916502+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:42.166342
License: Public Domain

McEWEN, President Judge,
concurring and dissenting.
The Opinion of my venerable colleagues of the majority reveals so precise an analysis and perceptive an expression of rationale that I hasten to join in that Opinion in all respects with one exception, namely, the conclusion that punitive damages are not recoverable under the PHRA.
The purposes of the Act as well as the language of the statute compel me to the conclusion, shared by our colleagues of the federal judiciary, that the legislature intended to allow the award of punitive damages in those instances when the conduct of the employer warranted such an award. See, e.g.: *615Rush v. Scott Specialty Gases, Inc., 914 F.Supp. 104, 109-10 (E.D.Pa.1996); Griffiths v. Cigna Corp., 857 F.Supp. 399, 409-10 (E.D.Pa.1994); aff'd., 60 F.3d 814 (3rd Cir.1995); Taylor v. Central Pennsylvania Drug and Alcohol Services Corp., 890 F.Supp. 360, 373 (M.D.Pa.1995); Jackson and Coker Inc. v. Lynam, 840 F.Supp. 1040, 1050-51 (E.D.Pa.1993), aff'd., 31 F.3d 1172 (3rd Cir.1994); Galeone v. American Packaging Corp., 764 F.Supp. 349, 351-52 (E.D.Pa.1991). See also: Clark v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 885 F.Supp. 694, 715 (E.D.Pa.1995).
Thus it is that I dissent from that portion of the majority opinion which finds that punitive damages are not recoverable under the PHRA.