Cavicchi v. Raytheon Co.

16 F. Supp. 3d 4, 2014 WL 1652629, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 55613
CourtDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedApril 18, 2014
DocketCivil Action No. 13-12535-NMG
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 16 F. Supp. 3d 4 (Cavicchi v. Raytheon Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cavicchi v. Raytheon Co., 16 F. Supp. 3d 4, 2014 WL 1652629, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 55613 (D. Mass. 2014).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM & ORDER

GORTON, District Judge.

This case involves wrongful termination and disability discrimination claims posed by Steven Cavicchi (“plaintiff’). The plaintiff alleges that his employer, Ray-theon Company (“defendant”), unlawfully placed him on long-term disability, despite the fact that he suffered no physical limitations.

The complaint contains five counts which allege, among other things, discrimination based upon a perceived disability and wrongful termination. The defendant has moved to dismiss three of the five counts and, for the reasons that follow, the Court will allow the motion with respect to one count, but deny it as to the other two.

I.Background

The plaintiff filed this action in October, 2013. The complaint alleges that in February, 2012, plaintiff fell on a staircase at work and went to a doctor. He was cleared to return to work the next day. When plaintiff arrived back at work, he was required to undergo a blood test and was suspended from work the following day “pending an investigation”.

The defendant referred plaintiff to doctors on two other occasions, in May and June, 2012. At both appointments, the plaintiff spoke with the doctors but was not physically examined. On July 23, 2012, the defendant placed the plaintiff on long-term disability. He contacted his union director, Dave Johnson, who informed him that the employer may have used the alleged disability as a pretense to suspend the plaintiff. The compensation that plaintiff receives from Raytheon as a result of his alleged long-term disability is roughly one-half of his salary.

Counts I and II allege disability discrimination. Count I alleges a state law claim under M.G.L. c. 151B, §' 4 and Count II implicates federal law, arising under 42 U.S.C. § 12101. Both counts claim the defendant 1) treated the plaintiff as if he had a medical impairment without providing proper accommodation and 2) improperly terminated him by placing him on long-term disability.

Count III alleges common-law intentional infliction of emotional distress (“IIED”), Count IV alleges breach of contract by virtue of termination without cause and Count V alleges that defendant violated the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act by depriving plaintiff of his constitutional right to contract.

II. Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Counts III, IV and V

The defendant moves to dismiss Counts III, IV and V of the complaint. In support of its motion to dismiss Count III, defendant asserts that plaintiffs IIED claim is barred by the exclusivity provision of the Massachusetts Workers Compensation Act and preempted by his federal Americans with Disabilities Act claim alleged in Count II. With respect to Count IV, defendant claims that the breach of contract claim is preempted by § 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act (“LMRA”) and as to Count V, defendant maintains that plaintiffs civil rights claim is preempted by both M.G.L. c. 151B and § 301 of the LMRA.

[7]*7A. Count III (IIED)

The plaintiff alleges intentional infliction of emotional distress in Count III, claiming that the defendant’s “outrageous acts” caused his financial ruin.

1. Legal Standard

To prevail on an IIED claim, a plaintiff must demonstrate that

the conduct was “extreme and outrageous,” was “beyond all possible bounds of decency” and was “utterly intolerable in a civilized community” and that the “emotional distress sustained by the plaintiff was severe.”

Howell v. Enter. Publ’g Co., 455 Mass. 641, 672, 920 N.E.2d 1 (2010) (quoting Agis v. Howard Johnson Co., 371 Mass. 140, 144-45, 355 N.E.2d 315 (1976)). However, when the emotional distress “arise[s] in the course of the employment relationship” and is compensable under worker’s compensation statutes, the “exclusivity provision” of the Massachusetts Worker’s Compensation Act, M.G.L. c. 152, § 24, bars common law claims for IIED. See Tennaro v. Ryder Sys. Inc., 832 F.Supp. 494, 500 (D.Mass.1993) (finding that injuries caused by a supervisor’s exercise of supervisory duties arose in the course of the employment relationship and therefore could not be the basis of a common law IIED claim).

If “the employer’s conduct substantially took place while the plaintiff was an employee, and it explicitly concerned his employment,” the plaintiffs injuries from that conduct are deemed to arise in the course of the employment relationship and must be redressed under the Massachusetts worker’s compensation statute. Bertrand v. Quincy Mkt. Cold Storage & Warehouse Co., 728 F.2d 568, 572 (1st Cir.1984). Furthermore, Massachusetts courts have routinely determined that

the [worker’s compensation] statute covers broadly any injury that arises out of the employment relationship regardless of whether it occurs during the precise period of employment.

Andresen v. Diorio, 349 F.3d 8, 16 (1st Cir.2003) (collecting cases).

2. Application

Defendant contends that Count III is barred by the Worker’s Compensation Act. It points to this Court’s holding in Tennaro, where the Court held that IIED was compensable under M.G.L. c. 152 and thus a common-law claim asserting the same was barred. 832 F.Supp. at 500. Plaintiff responds that defendant’s behavior which gave rise to the IIED claim occurred after the plaintiffs separation from employment with the defendant, citing Hamilton v. Baystate Med. & Educ. Research Found., 866 F.Supp. 51, 56 (D.Mass.1994), and that therefore his IIED claim cannot be said to have arisen in the course of his employment. Plaintiff claims that defendant refused to permit him to return to work after doctors cleared him to return.

First Circuit case law demonstrates that M.G.L. c. 152, § 24 provides the exclusive remedy for employment-related claims, including IIED. See Tennaro, 832 F.Supp. at 500. Plaintiffs claim that the behavior giving rise to his IIED claim occurred after separation ignores the fact that the defendant’s alleged conduct “substantially took place while the plaintiff was an employee,” and concerned the plaintiffs employment. Bertrand, 728 F.2d at 572. Plaintiff and defendant certainly had an “employment relationship” and plaintiffs alleged injuries arose out of that relationship, so the broad reading of the exclusivity provision in cases in this circuit requires preemption. See Andresen, 349 F.3d at 16.

Furthermore, defendant asserts that plaintiff has not, in fact, been “separated” [8]*8or “terminated” but is instead on “approved medical leave of absence status”. In any event, the label attached to the plaintiffs status does not control here because the defendant’s actions were directly related to his employment. The plaintiffs reliance on Hamilton is inapt, because that court held . . _

[t]he exclusivity bar applies even where the allegedly injurious actions occur in the course of termination.

866 F.Supp. at 66 (citing Bertrand, 728 F.2d at 572).

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Bluebook (online)
16 F. Supp. 3d 4, 2014 WL 1652629, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 55613, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cavicchi-v-raytheon-co-mad-2014.