Court Opinion

ID: 9568487
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:04:15.287549+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:43:19.195825
License: Public Domain

GOOLSBY, Judge
(dissenting):
I dissent. I would hold Designer successfully established an affirmative defense to Hinton’s action. I would further hold Hinton failed to meet his burden to show either that his termination “ ‘was significantly motivated by retaliation for [his] exercise of statutory rights’ ” or that the reason Designer gave for his discharge, namely his unexcused absences, was pretextual. Wallace v. Milliken & Co., 305 S.C. 118, 122, 406 S.E.2d 358, 360 (1991) (quoting Buckner v. General Motors Corp., 760 P.2d 803, 807 (Okla.1988)).
Under S.C.Code Ann. § 41-1-80 (Supp.1998), an employer defending against a retaliatory discharge claim “shall have as an affirmative defense ... violating specific written company policy for which the action is a stated remedy of the violation.”
As the majority notes, under Designer’s work attendance policy, an employee absent for five consecutive days without providing a doctor’s excuse could be terminated. Hinton knew *322and understood this policy and even enforced it himself against his subordinates. Despite Designer’s efforts to accommodate Hinton, he failed to report to work for five consecutive days without providing a doctor’s excuse.
The majority acknowledges “Hinton did not personally produce a written doctor’s excuse,” but further holds “there is evidence that Hinton substantially complied with Designer’s absentee policy and that, as a result, Designer’s proffered reasons were not legitimate.” Specifically, the majority notes that “the record supports the trial court’s finding that ‘[a]gents of the Defendant were in constant contact with the treating physicians and knew, or should have known, of the plaintiffs condition and continued complaints.’ ”
Even if this finding is correct, I would hold Hinton failed to show by the preponderance of the evidence that Designer would not have discharged him “ ‘but for’ the filing of the [workers’ compensation] claim.” Wallace at 121, 406 S.E.2d at 860. As the trial court noted, Designer agreed to compensate Hinton for his work-related injuries and provided medical care and temporary total disability benefits from the date of Hinton’s injury until he reached maximum medical improvement. Furthermore, because Hinton’s doctor had released him to return to work, it was reasonable for Designer to expect Hinton to resume his duties. It is also undisputed Designer attempted to help Hinton work within the restrictions imposed by his doctor. Hinton also participated in a meeting during which his superiors outlined a workload in which his responsibilities were limited to supervision and agreed he could take breaks and even lie down when necessary.
Although the majority correctly cites Lattie v. SHS Enters., Inc., 300 S.C. 417, 389 S.E.2d 300 (Ct.App.1990) for the proposition that proof of retaliatory discharge ordinarily requires use of circumstantial evidence, the circumstances in that case can be easily distinguished from the facts here.
First, Lattie was an appeal from summary judgment and held only that the plaintiff had established a prima facie case for retaliatory discharge. It did not reach the merits of the claim.
Second, Lattie had presented evidence directly refuting the factual allegations behind his employer’s purported reasons *323for firing him. In contrast, Hinton does not deny he was aware of Designer’s work attendance policy and failed to comply with it. Even if we were to accept the majority view that Hinton “substantially complied” with the policy, I have found no evidence in the record that Designer had ever given him reason to believe that substantial compliance would suffice. As the majority relates, Hinton was advised by his immediate supervisor that his absences were unexcused without a doctor’s excuse. Significantly, nothing in the record suggests Designer ever relaxed its work attendance policy for any of its other employees or otherwise enforced it in a discriminatory manner.
I would reverse.