The Michigan Court of Appeals has affirmed summary disposition for an employer in a case involving a former employee’s claim of discharge in violation of public policy. The case, Stegall v. Resource Technology Corporation, has already made one trip to the high court, and now oral arguments will be heard to address various issues, including whether the plaintiff’s public-policy claim is preempted by state or federal law. This article delves into the background of the case, the arguments presented, and the implications of the upcoming oral argument.<\/p>\n
In April 2016, Stegall, a former employee at FCA’s Sterling Heights Assembly Plant, raised concerns about asbestos insulation in his work area. After an outside expert determined there was no asbestos issue, FCA announced the end of production for one of its vehicles, leading to the reduction of the second shift at the plant. Stegall’s supervisor then informed human resources that Stegall would be released. Stegall filed a discrimination complaint with the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MiOSHA) against both FCA and his staffing agency, Brightwing.<\/p>\n
The Oakland County Circuit Court granted summary disposition for both Brightwing and FCA, dismissing Stegall’s complaint. Stegall appealed, arguing that Brightwing and FCA violated the Whistleblowers’ Protection Act (WPA) and public policy by discharging him.<\/p>\n
In a divided decision, the appeals court rejected Stegall’s argument that his WPA claim against Brightwing should not have been dismissed. The majority found that Stegall had not presented enough evidence to show that Brightwing retaliated against him for filing a MiOSHA complaint. However, Judge Elizabeth Gleicher dissented, stating that the temporal proximity between Stegall’s complaint and his termination could lead a jury to conclude that retaliation had occurred.<\/p>\n
The Michigan Supreme Court granted leave to appeal and sent the case back to the appeals court for further consideration. The justices wanted the court to determine whether Stegall had established a prima facie claim of discharge in violation of public policy, whether his public-policy claim was preempted by state or federal law, and whether the arguments for preemption were preserved.<\/p>\n
In a published decision in February 2023, Judge Kathleen Jansen concluded that summary disposition in favor of the defendants was appropriate. She argued that Stegall’s public-policy claim was preempted by the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) and MiOSHA. Jansen stated that the trial court had reached the correct result in granting summary disposition to the defendants.<\/p>\n
However, Judge Elizabeth Gleicher dissented, expressing concern over the impact of a previous Supreme Court decision, Dudewicz v. Norris-Schmid, Inc., on the viability of the public-policy tort claim described in Suchodolski v. Mich Consol Gas Co. She argued that Dudewicz had weakened Suchodolski and created confusion. Gleicher contended that Stegall’s public-policy claim was not preempted and should be allowed to proceed.<\/p>\n
The case will now be heard in oral argument before the high court. The parties will file supplemental briefs addressing two key issues. First, they will consider whether a public-policy claim for retaliation still exists under Suchodolski when based on a statute that has an antiretaliation provision. Second, they will address whether the appeals court correctly held that Stegall’s public-policy claim was preempted by OSHA and MiOSHA, or whether the claim was not preempted due to the inadequacy of the remedies provided by the statutes.<\/p>\n
The Stegall v. Resource Technology Corporation case has been a contentious legal battle, with the Michigan Court of Appeals affirming summary disposition for the employer and the dissenting judge arguing that the public-policy claim should be allowed to proceed. The upcoming oral argument will provide an opportunity for both parties to present their arguments and for the court to further consider the key issues at hand. The outcome of this case could have significant implications for future public-policy claims in Michigan and the interpretation of preemption in employment law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Stegall v. Resource Technology Corporation heads back to the high court for oral argument The Michigan Court of Appeals has affirmed summary disposition for an employer in a case involving a former employee’s claim of discharge in violation of public policy. The case, Stegall v. Resource Technology Corporation, has already made one trip to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[163],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-public-policy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buzz360news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buzz360news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buzz360news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buzz360news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buzz360news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buzz360news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buzz360news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buzz360news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buzz360news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buzz360news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}