Workers’ Compensation Retaliatory Termination: Turning a Firing into a Separate Civil Lawsuit
You filed for workers’ compensation after a workplace injury, only to lose your job soon afterward. Was the firing a coincidence, or did your employer retaliate because you sought benefits? In Pennsylvania, a retaliatory firing may give you grounds for a separate wrongful discharge lawsuit.
At the Law Offices of Shabbick & Stehle, we assist injured workers throughout the Lehigh Valley and Carbon County, Pennsylvania, with workers’ compensation matters. If you believe your employer fired you for seeking benefits, we can review the circumstances surrounding your injury, claim, and termination and help you understand your legal options. Contact us to arrange a consultation.
Wrongful Discharge Under Pennsylvania Law
Pennsylvania recognizes a separate wrongful discharge lawsuit when an employer fires an at-will employee for pursuing workers’ compensation benefits. Under the state’s employment-at-will rule, employers can generally terminate employees without providing a reason. However, Pennsylvania courts recognize an exception when a termination violates clearly established public policy.
In the 1998 Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision Shick v. Shirey, the court held that an employee fired for filing a workers’ compensation claim could pursue a wrongful discharge lawsuit. Pennsylvania courts recognize this as a common-law remedy, not a separate retaliation claim expressly created by the Workers’ Compensation Act.
Pennsylvania courts generally do not extend this common-law claim to employees covered by collective bargaining agreements. Their available remedies may instead depend on the agreement’s grievance procedures.
Pennsylvania law does not prohibit every termination following a workplace injury. An employer may have a legitimate reason for dismissal, such as documented misconduct or unrelated business circumstances. A termination involving medical restrictions may raise separate legal issues, including possible disability discrimination or accommodation rights.
Evidence of Workers’ Compensation Retaliation
Proving retaliation requires evidence connecting your pursuit of workers’ compensation benefits to your employer’s decision to terminate you. Your employer must have known you were seeking benefits when it made the decision. The timing of the dismissal, management statements, and inconsistencies in the employer’s explanation may also help establish retaliatory motivation.
For example, poor-performance allegations appearing only after your claim, despite earlier positive evaluations, may undermine the employer’s stated reason for firing you. Useful evidence may include:
Workers’ compensation records: Injury reports, claim notices, insurer communications, and documents showing when your employer learned you were seeking benefits.
Employment records: Performance reviews, disciplinary notices, attendance records, and termination documents.
Written communications: Emails, text messages, or letters discussing your injury, claim, medical restrictions, or employment status.
Witness accounts: Information from coworkers or supervisors who heard relevant statements or observed changes in management’s treatment of you.
Preserve documents you lawfully possess and write down important conversations while you remember them. Avoid obtaining confidential employer records without authorization.
If your employer offers a severance agreement, consider having it reviewed before signing. Some agreements contain releases of legal claims that could affect your ability to pursue a wrongful discharge lawsuit.
Protection Without a Formal Claim Petition
You do not necessarily have to file a formal workers’ compensation claim petition before pursuing a wrongful discharge lawsuit.
In Owens v. Lehigh Valley Hospital, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court considered a claim involving an employee who had reported workplace injuries and received employer payments in place of formal workers’ compensation benefits.
The court concluded that the absence of a formal claim petition did not automatically prevent the employee’s wrongful discharge claim from proceeding.
If you were fired before filing formal paperwork, communications about benefits you sought or received may help establish whether your employer dismissed you for exercising workers’ compensation rights. However, simply reporting an injury does not automatically establish retaliation.
Workers’ Compensation Claims vs. Civil Lawsuits
A workers’ compensation claim and a wrongful discharge lawsuit address different legal issues. Through Pennsylvania’s workers’ compensation system, you may seek medical and wage-loss benefits for a qualifying workplace injury. Disputes over those benefits generally proceed through the workers’ compensation process.
A wrongful discharge lawsuit instead concerns the employer’s decision to fire you because you pursued those benefits. It is a separate civil action seeking relief for the unlawful termination. Receiving workers’ compensation benefits does not, by itself, prove a subsequent firing was retaliatory.
At the Law Offices of Shabbick & Stehle, we handle workers’ compensation claims involving denied benefits, disputed medical treatment, and wage loss. If your employment ended after you pursued benefits, reviewing both matters can help determine whether a separate wrongful discharge issue also requires attention.
Damages Available for Wrongful Termination
A successful wrongful discharge lawsuit may allow you to recover compensation for losses caused by the termination. Depending on the evidence, recoverable damages may include lost wages, lost employment benefits, and other financial losses resulting from the firing.
Pennsylvania courts have also recognized that emotional distress damages may be recoverable in wrongful discharge cases when the evidence supports them. Punitive damages may be available in appropriate circumstances involving sufficiently serious misconduct.
You must prove the claimed losses and satisfy the legal requirements for each remedy. Employment records, wage statements, benefit information, and evidence of subsequent employment may help document your financial losses.
Filing Deadlines for Wrongful Discharge Claims
Pennsylvania generally applies a two-year filing deadline to common-law wrongful discharge lawsuits. Under 42 Pa.C.S. § 5524, actions involving certain tortious conduct must generally be commenced within two years. For a wrongful discharge claim, the period ordinarily begins when the termination occurs, although the specific circumstances may affect the calculation.
This deadline is separate from the rules governing workers’ compensation benefit claims. Under Pennsylvania’s Workers’ Compensation Act, you generally have three years after a workplace injury to file an initial claim petition, subject to statutory exceptions and rules concerning compensation agreements and payments.
If your firing also involved disability discrimination or denial of a reasonable accommodation, different deadlines may apply. You generally have 180 days to file a Pennsylvania Human Relations Act complaint with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, or 300 days to file a federal ADA charge with the EEOC when federal law applies. Those agency deadlines are separate from the two-year wrongful discharge deadline.
Delays may also make relevant employment records and witness accounts harder to obtain.
Discuss Your Termination with Shabbick & Stehle
At the Law Offices of Shabbick & Stehle, we represent injured Pennsylvania workers in disputes involving compensation benefits and employer responsibility.
Our attorney, Barry C. Shabbick, has practiced law since 1980. His experience includes representing a worker’s family in American Road Lines v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Royal), a 2012 Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court case involving a dispute over employment status and liability for a fatal workplace injury. He also served as Chancellor of the Carbon County Bar Association in 2013.
Attorney Angela M. Stehle graduated from Widener University Delaware Law School and has served on the Carbon County Bar Association’s board and as its secretary. From our Palmerton and Bethlehem offices, we provide workers’ compensation representation in the Lehigh Valley and Carbon County. If you were fired after pursuing benefits, contact us at (610) 826-3122 to discuss the circumstances of your termination and your legal options.