The Benefit of the Doubt

During any investigation of an employee, it is critical that the employer always extend the "benefit of the doubt" to the employee. This was strikingly evident in a recent Tenth Circuit decision: Trujillo v. PacificCorp., 524 F.3d 1149 (10th Cir. 2008). In Trujillo, the Court fired 2 employees (who were husband & wife), the parents of a young man who was suffering from cancer; and, their terminations occurred less than 2 weeks after the young man's cancer had relapsed. The terminations followed an investigation of the parents - that lead the employer to conclude that they had allegedly falsified their time records which, if true, defrauded the company of a combined 40 hours of pay.

The former employees asserted claims under the Americans With Disabilities Act and ERISA. The ADA claim was asserted under the ADA "association provision" - in which the former employees claimed that they had been terminated because of the expense or cost to the company (a self-insured company) associated with their son's illness. Although the District Court granted summary judgment to the employer, the Tenth Circuit reversed. The Tenth Circuit held that, under the totality of circumstances, and considering the evidence presented concerning the employer's concerns about the cost of the son's illness and the temporal proximity between the relapse and the termination, the former employees raised the necessary reasonable inference of discrimination.

The Tenth Circuit cited several specific facts related to the company's investigation of the couple that indicated that, although the couple had served the company for many years, they were never given the benefit of the doubt during the company's investigation: key witnesses allegedly were not interviewed; other employees allegedly were not terminated for other serious offenses, but were placed on progressive discipline; and, the company allegedly had cited certain unreliable records in support of its conclusion of time theft.

The Tenth Circuit's opinion provides an excellent outline of the legal framework for a claim under the ADA "association provision". This case also reveals several practical steps to take and to avoid during an investigation of an employee, including: it is critical that the employer always extend the "benefit of the doubt" to the employee.