Did Employee’s Claim, or Inability to Lift Bulky Furniture, Prompt Termination?

Cranberry, NJ (WorkersCompensation.com) -- Retaliation cases often arise when a worker is fired shortly after getting injured at work. While it may look like retaliation, it’s often the company’s actions and statements in the weeks after the injury that make or break a retaliation lawsuit.

In an illustrative case, a warehouse associate or Wayfair was tasked with daily unloading and receiving inbound furniture orders. This required him to move a lot of bulky, heavy objects. 

The one-page explanation of his job stated in two places that he would have to be able to lift 75 pounds unassisted.

While working on Feb. 3, 2020, he injured his shoulder. The shoulder just stopped working, he said. He couldn’t lift it and it was extremely painful all the time. The company helped him obtain workers’ compensation benefits.

Meanwhile, three reports from the associate’s doctor written in the weeks after the injury stated that the employee could not go back to work. The doctor left blank the part of the form used to note potential accommodations and likewise did not suggest any possible return date. Wayfair terminated the associate on February 18, after he had used up all his leave time.

The associate sued Wayfair for workers’ compensation retaliation.

To establish a workers' compensation retaliation case, an employee must prove that:

1. He made or attempted to make a workers' compensation claim; and 
2. He was discharged or discriminated against in retaliation for making the claim.

Did Wayfair retaliate against the associate for filing a claim?

A. Yes. The fact that he was fired so soon after he was injured indicated the two events were causally linked.

B. No. Nothing indicated that the company was firing him for any reason other than he could no longer lift 75 pounds.

If you selected B, you agreed with the court in Wraith v. Wayfair, Inc., No. 23-2400 (3d Cir. 09/11/24, unpublished), which held that there was no evidence of retaliatory intent on the part of the company.

The associate didn’t put forth any facts suggesting he was fired for filing his claim, the court noted. This was not a case where the company made any statements suggesting it was anxious to get rid of the employee because of a claim. The court pointed out that in one case where a court found a company retaliated, the employee was told: "if you weren't such a troublemaker you would still have a job here." There were no such statements in this case, the court noted.

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Instead, the evidence showed Wayfair fired him because he could no longer do the job. The court pointed out that New Jersey employers are not required to hold an employee’s job open indefinitely until the employee recovers from a work-related injury. This especially the case where the employee fails to provide evidence concerning how long the injury-related absence will last. 

“Here, [the employee] used all the leave he had acquired during his few months on the job. And only after [the employee] had used up all his leave did Wayfair terminate him,” the court wrote.

Because the employee’s filing of a claim did not enter into the company’s decision to terminate him, he could not establish a retaliation case.

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