Hunger v. Grand Central Sanitation

670 A.2d 173, 447 Pa. Super. 575, 1996 Pa. Super. LEXIS 53
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJanuary 18, 1996
Docket135
StatusPublished
Cited by90 cases

This text of 670 A.2d 173 (Hunger v. Grand Central Sanitation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hunger v. Grand Central Sanitation, 670 A.2d 173, 447 Pa. Super. 575, 1996 Pa. Super. LEXIS 53 (Pa. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinions

HESTER, Judge:

Mark Hunger appeals from the December 9, 1994 grant of summary judgment to appellees, Grand Central Sanitation and Gary Perin. We are constrained to affirm under current precedent of this court.

Appellant instituted this action on January 26, 1993, against his former employer and Mr. Perin, who terminated appellant. The action is based upon wrongful discharge, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligent infliction of emotional distress. Appellees filed an answer and new matter. After these pleadings were filed, appellees moved for summary judgment, which was granted. This appeal followed.

We first examine our standard of review in the summary judgment context. The evidence must be viewed in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, and he must be given all the reasonable inferences created by his evidence. Long v. Norriton Hydraulics, Inc., 443 Pa.Super. 532, 662 A.2d 1089 (1995). Nonetheless, “[i]f there are no material issues of fact in dispute, and plaintiff has failed to allege facts sufficient to make out a prima facie case, as a matter of law, then summary judgment may be granted properly.” Dudley v. USX Corp, 414 Pa.Super. 160, 169-70, 606 A.2d 916, 920 (1992). Thus, where there are no credibility issues and the allegations of the appealing party, if accepted as true, fail to make out a prima facie case as a matter of law rather than as a matter of fact, summary judgment is appropriate. Id.

We therefore accept as true the following factual allegations contained in appellant’s complaint and affidavit. Appellant [579]*579was employed by Grand Central Sanitation (“Grand Central”) on June 28, 1990, as the company’s safety director. Mr. Perm is the vice-president and owner of Grand Central. On September 7, 1991, appellant “became aware” that hazardous materials consisting of blasting caps were being deposited into garbage containers at Shu-Deb Inc. (“Shu-Deb”). Reproduced Record, (“R.R.”) at 3a. The complaint contains no averments about how appellant became aware of this information. Grand Central picked up garbage for Shu-Deb and dumped it at a dump site. Appellant knew that Grand Central was not licensed to dispose of hazardous materials at any of its dump sites and believed that it would be a violation of federal law, state law, or both if the company transported or disposed of hazardous materials. Appellant also became concerned about the safety of company employees from the danger of transporting blasting caps.

On September 9, 1991, appellant told Mr. Perm about the information he received that blasting caps were being dumped into the containers at Shu-Deb. The next day, he contacted state and local police asking for a description of blasting caps, which he never had seen. He also made arrangements to search Shu-Deb’s garbage container.

On September 12, 1991, appellant, accompanied by Pennsylvania State Police and members of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, went to search the contents of the garbage container. When appellant and police arrived at Shu-Deb, the garbage had been collected, so police located the garbage truck that had the garbage and searched it. “No hazardous materials were found.” R.R. 4a. On October 4, 1991, appellant was discharged as a result of the incident.

Appellant first alleges that his wrongful discharge claim was dismissed improperly due to the public policy exception to the doctrine of at-will employment. We examine the applicable law:

In Pennsylvania, as a general rule, no common law cause of action exists against an employer for termination of an at-will employment relationship. Krajsa v. Keypunch, Inc., [580]*580424 Pa.Super. 230, 237, 622 A.2d 355, 358 (1993) (“an at will employee may be terminated for good reason, bad reason, or no reason at all”). Moreover, “exceptions to this rule have been recognized in only the most limited of circum- . stances, where discharges of at-will employees would threaten the clear mandates of public policy.” Id. at 237, 622 A.2d at 358....

Holewinski v. Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, 437 Pa.Super. 174, 178, 649 A.2d 712, 715 (1994).

The public policy exception to the at-will doctrine was recognized by our Supreme Court in Geary v. United States Steel Corp., 456 Pa. 171, 319 A.2d 174 (1974), a case remarkably similar to the one at bar. There, the plaintiff was a salesman for the defendant and criticized to company officials above his immediate supervisors the quality of the steel being produced. He was discharged even though the product later was determined to be substandard and -withdrawn from the market. Geary alleged that his termination fell within a public policy exception to the at-will doctrine since he was acting in the interest of the safety of the general public.

While the Supreme Court recognized that a public policy exception may exist under appropriate conditions, it rejected plaintiffs argument that his allegations fell within its ambit on two grounds. First, the plaintiff was not obligated statutorily to report defective products. Second, on its face, the complaint offered the existence of a plausible reason for discharge in that the plaintiff had bypassed his immediate supervisors to make the complaint.

To state a public policy exception to the at-will-employment doctrine, the employee must point to a clear public policy articulated in the constitution, in legislation, an administrative regulation, or a judicial decision. Jacques v. Akzo International Salt, Inc., 422 Pa.Super. 419, 619 A.2d 748 (1993). Furthermore, the stated mandate of public policy, as articulated in the constitution, statute, or judicial decision, must be applicable directly to the employee and the employee’s actions. It is not sufficient that the employer’s actions toward the [581]*581employee are unfair. Reese v. Tom Hesser Chevrolet-BMW, 413 Pa.Super. 168, 604 A.2d 1072 (1992) (fact that employer required employee, as condition of continued employment, to reimburse it for losses attributable to action of employee may have been unfair but did not violate law; therefore, employee failed to state public policy exception to doctrine of at-will employment); Darlington v. General Electric, 350 Pa.Super. 183, 504 A.2d 306 (1986) (no public policy exception to at-will employment doctrine found even though employee was discharged unfairly in that he was not afforded the opportunity to defend himself against allegations of accounting irregularities).

We have recognized a public policy exception only in extremely limited circumstances. If an employee is fired for performing a function that he is required to perform by law, an action for wrongful discharge on public policy grounds will be allowed. See e.g., Field v. Philadelphia Electric Co., 388 Pa.Super. 400, 565 A.2d 1170 (1989) (employee fired for reporting a nuclear safety violation that he was required to report under federal law); Reuther v. Fowler & Williams, Inc., 255 Pa.Super.

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670 A.2d 173, 447 Pa. Super. 575, 1996 Pa. Super. LEXIS 53, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hunger-v-grand-central-sanitation-pasuperct-1996.