Worker Can’t Tack on ADA Retaliation Charge to Claims

Case File

An Arkansas worker came up short in his attempt to add ADA retaliation charges related to his workers' compensation claim due to rules related to exhausting administrative remedies as well as the exclusive remedy provisions of state law.

Case

Shelton v. Nucor-Yamoto Steel Co., No. 3:23-cv-00009 KGB (E.D. Ark. 09/05/24).

What Happened?

An Arkansas worker sought to add a retaliation claim based on assertions that his employer retaliated against him after discriminating against him under the Americans with Disabilities and after he filed a workers' compensation claim. The employer opposed the motion and sought to have the court deny it.

Rule of Law

Denial of leave to amend pleadings is appropriate only in those limited circumstances in which undue delay, bad faith, futility, or unfair prejudice can be demonstrated. See Roberson v. Hayti Police Dep't, 241 F.3d 992 (8th Cir. 2001).

Additionally, under the ADA, a claimant must exhaust his administrative remedies by filing a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission before filing in suit.

What the Court Said

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the worker's motion to amend, explaining that, based on the charge of discrimination filed with the EEOC, the worker failed to exhaust his administrative remedy with regard to his ADA retaliation claim.

The court found another roadblock to the worker's retaliation claim in the form of Arkansas's exclusivity remedy provisions.

"Arkansas's workers' compensation laws provide the exclusive remedy where plaintiff asserts that he was terminated in retaliation for having sought available benefits," the court wrote and denied the worker's motion to amend his complaint.

The Takeaway

Exhaustion requirements and exclusivity remedy rules may keep a worker from tacking on additional claims.

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