Brown v. Tru-Chek Meter Service

• Court: Court of Appeals of South Carolina
• Decided: April 1, 2003
• Docket: 2003-UP-241
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA
In The Court of Appeals

Ann D. Brown,        Respondent,

v.

Tru-Chek Meter Service, Inc.,        Appellant.

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Appeal From Sumter County
L. Henry McKellar, Circuit Court Judge

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Unpublished Opinion No. 2003-UP-241  
Submitted January 29, 2003 – Filed April 1, 2003

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AFFIRMED

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Lena T. Younts, of Manning, for Appellant

William Ceth Land, of Manning, for Respondent.

PER CURIAM: Tru-Chek Meter Service, Inc. (Employer) appeals from an order of the circuit court finding that Ann Brown (Employee) was terminated in retaliation for filing a workers’ compensation claim pursuant to S.C. Code Ann. § 41-1-80 (Cum. Supp. 2001) and awarding her $10,391.41 in damages.  Employer asserts that the trial court erred in holding that Employee had met the burden of establishing that “but for” her workers’ compensation claim, she would not have been terminated. We affirm [1] pursuant to Rule 220, SCACR, and the following authorities: Wallace v. Milliken & Company, 305 S.C. 118, 406 S.E.2d 358 (1991) (finding that an action for reinstatement and lost wages sounds in equity and the appellate court has jurisdiction to find facts in accordance with its own view of the preponderance of the evidence; and adopting the determinative factor test, which requires an employee to establish that he would not have been discharged “but for” the filing of the claim); S.C. Code Ann. § 41-1-80 (Supp. 2002) (stating that an employee who is discharged in retaliation for instituting a workers’ compensation claim is entitled to lost wages and reinstatement).

AFFIRMED.

HEARN, C.J., GOOLSBY and SHULER, JJ., concur.

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[1]   We affirm this case without oral argument pursuant to Rule 215, SCACR.