Can My Employer Fire Me for Violating a Company Policy After I File a Workers’ Compensation Claim?

Can My Employer Fire Me for Violating a Company Policy After I File a Workers’ Compensation Claim?

An employer tells an injured worker “You weren’t fired because you filed a workers’ compensation claim. You were fired because you violated company policy.”  Does that end a potential Alabama retaliatory discharge claim?

No—but a genuine violation of a consistently enforced company policy can provide an employer with a legitimate reason for termination.

The important question is often whether the policy violation was truly the reason for the firing or whether the employer used the policy as a reason to terminate an employee because he or she pursued workers’ compensation benefits.

Alabama Employers Can Enforce Legitimate Workplace Rules

Alabama’s retaliatory discharge statute, Ala. Code §25-5-11.1, does not give an injured employee immunity from ordinary workplace rules.  An employee who files a workers’ compensation claim may still be disciplined or terminated for legitimate reasons, including violations of company policies.

For example, depending upon the circumstances, an employer may legitimately discipline an employee for:

• excessive unexcused absences;
• failing to follow call-in procedures;
• insubordination;
• dishonesty;
• safety violations;
• misconduct; or
• other violations for which employees ordinarily are disciplined.

But simply putting the words “violation of company policy” on a termination notice does not necessarily resolve the issue.  The policy itself—and how the employer actually applies it—can become important evidence.

Recommended Reading: Can My Employer Fire Me for Attendance Problems After a Workers’ Compensation Injury in Alabama? discusses one of the most common policy-based reasons employers give for terminating injured workers.

The Aldridge Factors Specifically Address Company Policies

In Alabama Power Co. v. Aldridge, 854 So. 2d 554 (Ala. 2002), the Alabama Supreme Court identified several types of circumstantial evidence that may support a connection between a workers’ compensation claim and a subsequent termination.

Two are especially important when an employer relies upon a company rule:

1. failure to adhere to established company policy; and
2. discriminatory treatment in comparison to similarly situated employees.

This makes sense.

Suppose an employer has a progressive disciplinary policy providing for a verbal warning, written warning, suspension, and only then termination.  If an injured employee who recently filed a workers’ compensation claim is immediately fired for a first violation, while other employees ordinarily receive warnings, the employer’s departure from its normal practice may be evidence worth examining.

Likewise, suppose several employees violated the same rule, but only the employee with the workers’ compensation claim was fired.

The question becomes: Was the policy really being enforced—or was it being used?

Recommended Reading: The Aldridge Factors: How Alabama Workers Prove Retaliatory Discharge Without a Smoking Gun explains the types of circumstantial evidence Alabama courts consider when determining whether a termination was connected to a workers’ compensation claim.

What Does “Similarly Situated” Mean?

This is an important concept.  It generally is not enough for an employee simply to say “Other people broke rules too.”  The circumstances should be sufficiently similar to make the comparison meaningful.

For example:

• Did another employee violate the same policy?
• Was the violation of comparable seriousness?
• Did the same supervisor or decision-maker handle the discipline?
• Did the employees have similar disciplinary histories?
• Were the violations reasonably close in time?
• What discipline did the other employee receive?

The closer the comparison, the more useful the evidence may become.

This is why personnel records and disciplinary histories can be extremely important in retaliatory discharge litigation. Evidence concerning how an employer treated other employees who committed the same or similar violations may tell us much more than the language contained in the employee handbook.

What If the Employer Did Follow Its Policy?

This is the other side of the issue, and it is important.  Evidence that an employer had an established policy, that the employee actually violated it, and that the employer consistently imposed the same consequence on other employees can provide powerful evidence for the employer.

Aldridge itself demonstrates the point.

Alabama Power relied in part upon attendance-related violations and presented evidence that its attendance policy had been consistently applied. The Alabama Supreme Court explained that when an employer establishes an independently sufficient reason for termination and the employee cannot present substantial evidence that the reason was applied discriminatorily, conflicted with company policy, or was otherwise disavowed or shown to be pretextual, the employer may be entitled to judgment as a matter of law.

So, the existence of a workers’ compensation claim does not prevent an employer from enforcing a legitimate rule.

The critical question remains whether the rule violation was the real reason for the termination.

What If the Employer Suddenly Starts Enforcing Rules After My Injury?

That can deserve careful examination.

An employee may have worked for an employer for years with no significant disciplinary problems. After a job injury, however, the employee suddenly receives write-ups for conduct that previously resulted in no discipline—or for conduct other employees routinely engage in without consequence.

That does not automatically prove retaliation, but it can become circumstantial evidence when considered together with other facts, such as:

• the timing of the discipline;
• comments about the injury or workers’ compensation claim;
• sudden negative performance evaluations;
• different treatment of other employees;
• departures from normal disciplinary procedures; or
• changing explanations for the termination.

Retaliatory discharge cases are often proven by putting these pieces together, rather than finding a single document admitting retaliation.

Recommended Reading: What Is Pretext in an Alabama Retaliatory Discharge Case? discusses how inconsistencies between an employer’s stated reason and its actual conduct may become evidence that the stated reason was not the true reason for the termination.

What If the Employer Changes the Reason for Firing Me?

This can be particularly significant.

Suppose the termination notice says the employee was fired for violating an attendance policy. Later, the employer says the employee was terminated for poor performance. Still later, during litigation, the employer identifies insubordination as another reason.

That does not automatically establish retaliatory discharge, but changing explanations can support an inference of pretext.

In Flint Construction Co. v. Hall, 904 So. 2d 236 (Ala. 2004), the employer’s explanations for the employee’s termination became an important part of the evidence. The company initially identified lack of work as the reason, but evidence later established that explanation was false, and different explanations appeared at different stages of the dispute.  The Alabama Supreme Court concluded there was evidence from which the jury could determine that the employer’s stated reasons were pretextual.

A legitimate termination reason ordinarily should not need to be invented after the termination occurs.

What Evidence Can Be Important?

When an employer relies upon a company-policy violation, some of the most important evidence may include:

• the employee handbook in effect when the employee was fired;
• written disciplinary policies;
• the termination notice;
• prior write-ups and evaluations;
• emails and text messages involving supervisors;
• attendance and payroll records;
• personnel records of similarly situated employees;
• evidence of how the same policy was enforced before the injury;
• statements concerning the employee’s injury or workers’ compensation claim; and
• evidence identifying when and by whom the termination decision was actually made.

An employee should preserve whatever records are lawfully available rather than assuming they can easily be obtained later.

The Bottom Line

Yes, an Alabama employer can generally discipline or terminate an injured employee for a legitimate violation of company policy, but “company policy” is not a magic phrase that automatically defeats a retaliatory discharge claim.

When an employee is fired after pursuing workers’ compensation benefits, relevant questions can include whether the policy actually existed, whether the employee truly violated it, whether the employer followed its own procedures, and—perhaps most importantly—how the employer treated other employees who committed similar violations.

If the policy was consistently enforced against everyone, that may provide strong evidence for the employer.

If the rules suddenly changed—or were enforced differently—after the workers’ compensation claim, that may tell a very different story.

Recommended Reading: Does Violating a Safety Rule Automatically Prevent Me From Receiving Workers’ Compensation Benefits?

If you suffered an Alabama job injury and were subsequently fired for an alleged violation of company policy, don’t assume that the reason written on your termination notice necessarily determines whether you have a retaliatory discharge claim.

If you have questions about whether your termination was related to your workers’ compensation claim, don’t hesitate to contact and speak with one of the experienced Alabama Workers Compensation and Social Security Disability attorneys at Powell and Denny today for a free consultation. Appointments are available in person, or virtually via Zoom if more convenient.  Powell and Denny would appreciate the opportunity to help.  And remember, there is no fee unless you win.

Powell and Denny: We Work When You Can’t