Kise v. Product Design & Engineering, Inc.

453 N.W.2d 561, 5 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 385, 1990 Minn. App. LEXIS 306
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedApril 3, 1990
DocketC3-89-1820
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 453 N.W.2d 561 (Kise v. Product Design & Engineering, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kise v. Product Design & Engineering, Inc., 453 N.W.2d 561, 5 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 385, 1990 Minn. App. LEXIS 306 (Mich. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

OPINION

NORTON, Judge.

Appellant Darryl Kise (“Kise”) claimed that the request of his former employer, Product Design & Engineering (“PD & E”) that he submit to a drug test after a job-related injury was arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Minnesota Drug and Alcohol Testing in the Workplace Act (“Act”). Kise also claimed that the Act requires reasonable and fair disclosure to employees of a company’s drug testing policy. The trial court granted PD & E summary judgment on the grounds that no violations of the Act occurred. We affirm.

FACTS

The Act, Minn.Stat. §§ 181.950-.957 (1988), governs employer drug testing of employees and became effective September 1, 1987. In November 1987, PD & E established a drug testing policy, applicable to employees and job applicants, in accordance with the Act. Kise received a copy of the policy, attended an informational meeting and signed a receipt indicating that he had read the policy, all prior to its effective date of November 23.

PD & E’s policy states that any employee found abusing, selling, possessing or transferring drugs or alcohol while working will face immediate discharge. The policy states that current employees may be required to take a drug and alcohol test in the event they sustain or cause a work related personal injury requiring clinical treatment. The policy also states that any employee has the right to refuse the test and that employees who refuse or fail to take the test will face immediate discharge.

The policy also states that upon receipt of a positive, confirmatory test employees will be referred to a chemical dependency treatment program and that upon refusal to participate, or failure to successfully complete the program, the employee will be discharged but that upon a second positive test, an employee will be discharged immediately. The policy also states that all information obtained through drug and alcohol testing will be strictly confidential.

Kise freely admits to having been treated twice for chemical dependency and to having resumed use again. He admits having worked under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. • PD & E adopted its testing policy in response to overwhelming evidence of chemical abuse occurring on its property.

On January 20, 1988 at about 1:50 in the afternoon, Kise was injured on the job when he pinched, smashed or crushed his finger in a mechanism on a forklift. Kise testified that although he was wearing gloves, his skin was cut and broken on the affected finger. Kise immediately reported the injury to his shift foreman. This shift foreman located his shift supervisor who returned to inspect the injury and discuss it with Kise. She and Kise jointly concluded that Kise’s injury required clinical treatment. She then presented a “consent to drug test form” for Kise to sign. By signing the consent form, the employee authorizes drug and alcohol testing pursuant to PD & E’s policy and authorizes “the release of information within the company and outside the company as provided in Minnesota law.”

Kise testified that when the shift supervisor asked him to sign the consent form, he objected and the shift supervisor then retrieved her supervisor and again requested Kise to sign the consent form. Kise admits that when the shift supervisor then inquired whether he' knew the consequences of refusal, he replied yes, he could be fired. The plant supervisor then asked Kise to sign the form and Kise refused.

Kise testified that the shift supervisor brought him to the clinic for treatment. The injury did not require stitches and x-rays confirmed the finger was unbroken. The shift supervisor returned Kise to the *564 worksite, where the plant supervisor told Kise not to report to work the following morning but to instead report to the plant supervisor’s office for a meeting at 9:00 a.m. Kise returned the next morning and the plant supervisor terminated Kise from employment for failure to consent to the drug and alcohol test.

In March of 1989, PD & E moved for summary judgment. PD & E argued that its request that Kise submit to a test was not arbitrary and capricious because Kise sustained a work related injury, the Act expressly authorizes testing in these circumstances, and Kise refused the test. PD & E claimed that the company’s policy does not contain any requirement of reasonable and fair disclosure to employees.

Kise opposed summary judgment on the grounds that genuine issues of material fact exist as to whether the policy itself and/or its application are arbitrary and capricious and as to the notice and disclosure issues. In granting summary judgment for PD & E, the trial court necessarily decided that there were no genuine issues of material fact. The trial court ruled that PD & E’s policy is to request a test on the day of an injury requiring medical attention. The trial court found that employees who were not tested were injured but not treated until “days later,” a rational distinction explained by the diminished value of testing long after an accident has occurred. The trial court held that PD & E’s policy met all of the requirements of the Act regarding content of policies and use and dissemination of test results. Kise appeals.

In the appendix to his appellate brief, Kise includes materials that were not a part of the trial court record below. PD & E has brought a motion to strike this material.

ISSUES

1. Did the trial court err in granting summary judgment for PD & E on the basis that its policy was not arbitrary and capricious?

2. Did the trial court err in granting summary judgment for PD & E on the basis that the policy complied with Act requirements regarding content and confidentiality?

3.Should PD & E’s motion to strike be granted?

ANALYSIS

I.

On appeal from summary judgment, this court must determine whether any genuine issues of material fact exist and whether the trial court erred in its application of the law. Offerdahl v. University of Minnesota Hospital & Clinics, 426 N.W.2d 425, 427 (Minn.1988). Kise alleges both that a factual dispute exists and that the trial court erred in its application of the law. Of course, only a material factual dispute precludes summary judgment. Kise alleges a factual dispute regarding application of PD & E’s drug testing policy to employees.

One employee was injured before Kise and several employees were injured later. All of these employee injury records were considered by the trial court, which then stated:

The fact that some employees who were injured but did not receive treatment until days later were not tested, does not make defendant’s policy arbitrary and capricious.

Another employee had sustained an injury less than two weeks earlier, but had not been required to take the test. Kise did not feel that his injury was as severe as this employee’s injury. Records indicate that the previous injury occurred on Friday, January 8, 1988 and was apparently the first injury to occur after adoption of the drug test policy.

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Bluebook (online)
453 N.W.2d 561, 5 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 385, 1990 Minn. App. LEXIS 306, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kise-v-product-design-engineering-inc-minnctapp-1990.