Court Opinion

ID: 9620994
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 05:50:19.416484+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:04:56.814325
License: Public Domain

DAVID GAULTNEY, Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. Plaintiff admits he could not safely perform his job duties as an electrician’s helper. Under the circumstances, he needed a different job. The District offered him a position at the same salary but with less strenuous requirements. Plaintiff declined this offer because it would interfere with a second job he held with another employer.
Robert Burns, CISD’s Director of Facilities and Maintenance Operations, met with Aust and concluded worker safety required a job transfer. He transferred plaintiff to a different position in another department. That department had a different salary structure, and the result was decreased pay for Aust. Certainly the transfer was a consequence of Aust’s injury, but there is no competent evidence Burns made the transfer decision in retaliation for Aust filing a compensation claim.1
Aust says he was given a false explanation for his transfer. He says his old job was not eliminated and his new job was not safer. However, even if the reason given to plaintiff was false, that alone is insufficient to show a retaliatory motive for the transfer. Benners v. Blanks Color Imaging, Inc., 133 S.W.3d 364, 371 (Tex.App.-Dallas 2004, no pet.). Liability is not based on the correctness of the employer’s proffered explanation. In a case involving disability discrimination, the Supreme Court has held the relevant inquiry is not solely whether a reason given by the employer was false, but whether disability was a motivating factor. See Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Canchola, 121 S.W.3d 735, 739 (Tex.2003) (Plaintiff must show the reason proffered by the employer was false and discrimination was a reason). The same is true here. Aust was required to submit evidence that a factor in Burns’ decision was retaliation for his filing a compensation claim. See Elgaghil v. Tar*231rant County Junior Coll., 45 S.W.3d 133, 140 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 2000, pet. denied). Absent competent evidence retaliation was a motivating factor for Burns’ transfer decision, summary judgment was proper. I would affirm the trial court’s judgment.

. Any reference to workers’ compensation made by Perryman to someone he thought was a prospective employer months after Aust left the District is not actionable as retaliation. Retaliation claims under the Workers' Compensation Act require an employer/employee relationship. See Stoker v. Furr's, Inc., 813 S.W.2d 719, 722 (Tex.App.-El Paso 1991, writ denied). Furthermore, Perryman was not the ultimate decisionmaker for the transfer. Burns was.