LaFond v. General Physics Services Corp.

• Decision Date: 17 March 1995
• Docket Number: No. 228,D,228
• Parties: 129 Lab.Cas. P 57,865 A.R. Peter LaFOND, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. GENERAL PHYSICS SERVICES CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellee. ocket 94-7222.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

Page 165

50 F.3d 165

129 Lab.Cas. P 57,865

A.R. Peter LaFOND, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. GENERAL PHYSICS SERVICES CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 228, Docket 94-7222.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Argued Oct. 7, 1994.

Decided March 17, 1995.

Gregg D. Adler, Hartford, CT (Anne Goldstein, Gould, Livingston, Adler & Pulda, Hartford, CT, of counsel), for plaintiff-appellant.

Felix J. Springer, Hartford, CT (William G. Madsen, Day, Berry & Howard, Hartford, CT, of counsel), for defendant-appellee.

Before: FEINBERG, PIERCE, and MAHONEY, Circuit Judges.

PIERCE, Senior Circuit Judge:

Plaintiff A.R. Peter LaFond appeals from a judgment entered on February 17, 1994 in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (Alfred V. Covello, Judge), granting summary judgment in favor of defendant General Physics Services Corporation ("General Physics"). LaFond brought this action under Conn.Gen.Stat. Sec. 31-51m, Connecticut's whistleblower protection statute, alleging that he was wrongfully terminated from his employment at General Physics for reporting suspected violations of federal law to state and federal agencies. Section 31-51m provides in pertinent part:

(b) No employer shall discharge ... any employee because the employee ... reports, verbally or in writing, a violation or a suspected violation of any state or federal law or regulation ... to a public body.... The provisions of this subsection shall not be applicable when the employee knows that such report is false.

The district court, applying the analytical framework set forth in McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973), granted summary judgment in favor of General Physics on the grounds that: (1) LaFond failed to make out a prima facie case of retaliatory discharge under Sec. 31-51m(b); (2) assuming, arguendo, a prima facie case was made out, General Physics articulated a legitimate, non-retaliatory reason for LaFond's discharge; and (3) LaFond failed to establish that General Physics' stated reason for discharging him was a pretext concealing a retaliatory motive. Alternatively, the court found that LaFond was not entitled to whistleblower protection because Sec. 31-51m(b) imposes a requirement

of good faith, which it concluded LaFond lacked. On appeal, LaFond argues that summary judgment was inappropriate because, first, the court did not evaluate the evidence in accordance with the proper standards for deciding summary judgment motions because the court made findings of fact and drew inferences from the evidence in favor of the moving party, rather than determining whether genuine issues of material fact had been raised; second, the court erred in applying the analytical framework set forth in McDonnell Douglas instead of the standards enunciated in Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, 490 U.S. 228, 109 S.Ct. 1775, 104 L.Ed.2d 268 (1989), since there was direct evidence of a retaliatory motive; and third, the court erred by imposing a requirement of good faith under Sec. 31-51m(b). For the reasons below, we conclude that summary judgment was improperly granted, and we vacate the judgment and remand for further proceedings.

BACKGROUND

General Physics is a consulting firm that provides training, engineering and technical support services to clients in industry and the federal government, primarily federal agencies involved in defense. LaFond was discharged from his position as a program manager at General Physics' Groton, Connecticut facility effective April 30, 1992. ¹ The events precipitating his discharge are as follows.

On March 17, 1992, the president of General Physics, David L. Thames, received an anonymous letter dated March 6, 1992, in which several allegations of improper conduct were made against a department head at General Physics' Groton facility, Robert F. Urso. ² The letter, which LaFond later admitted was sent by him, purported to be from "a group of concerned employees" who wished to inform Thames of "illegal, immoral, and unethical activities" allegedly engaged in by Urso. It characterized Urso as "a thief, a lier [sic], a cheat, and a man who commits crimes," and levelled several specific claims of wrongdoing and criminal misconduct against him, including charges of theft of government documents, theft of personal correspondence, a security violation, equal employment opportunity and company policy violations, sexual harassment, conflict of interest, and illegal contract charges. The names of several present and former employees were listed as having personal knowledge of the allegations. The letter also stated that if Urso was removed from his position or a similar action was taken against him within twenty-four hours, the authors would drop the matter entirely. It further threatened that if action was not taken, the authors would report Urso's alleged improprieties to a number of government authorities and valued clients that were listed in the letter. ³

Thames took no action against Urso within twenty-four hours, and assumed that by not doing so, the authors had sent copies of the letter to the stated government authorities. Thames immediately launched an investigation into the claims to determine if there was any validity to the charges of wrongdoing by Urso. On March 19, 1992, Thames and Dennis R. Bunty, a vice-president at General Physics, met with Urso, who denied the charges. Thames then directed Bunty to meet with several current employees who were identified in the letter to determine if they could provide support for any of the claims.

On March 20, 1992, Bunty interviewed several current employees, including LaFond. He instructed each employee to complete a questionnaire that asked whether the employee knew anything concerning any of the On March 23, 1992, after speaking with his attorney, LaFond mailed copies of the letter to the Naval Underwater Systems Center ("NUSC") and the Connecticut Department of Labor ("CDOL"), at least in part for the purpose of obtaining whistleblower status. ⁴ On March 24, 1992, LaFond informed Bunty that he was the sole author of the letter and had mailed copies to the NUSC and CDOL. Thames and Bunty then met with LaFond to discuss the charges. LaFond proceeded to iterate several of the facts upon which he premised his claims and the names of several present and former employees whom he alleged had knowledge of the events. He also stated that he possessed a document that had been faxed to him by Urso directing him to destroy a secret document; he refused, however, to hand it over.

allegations set forth in the letter. LaFond answered "no" to each question, and provided no supporting evidence in support of any of the claims against Urso. The other employees answered "no" to virtually every question, with the exception of a few positive responses concerning alleged sexual harassment by another employee not mentioned in the letter; and two positive responses by employees Cheryl Galloway and Rocky Stone regarding a request to shred a secret document made by either Urso or by an ex-employee mentioned in the letter, Bob Rose. LaFond's allegation regarding a security violation concerned this "secret" document.

Interviews were subsequently scheduled with several current employees whom LaFond had indicated would corroborate some of his allegations. Each employee was presented with verbatim excerpts of the claims contained in the letter. The employees largely denied having any direct knowledge of most of the allegations. However, as to the claim involving the security violation, Galloway stated that she was the security officer at the time of the incident, and that a secret document had been discovered approximately five years earlier. She stated that after conferring with Urso, she received an anonymous fax suggesting that she destroy the document. Two other employees, Stone and Judy Chown, testified that Rose, not Urso, was the person involved in the incident concerning the fax. As to the charges about theft of government documents, Galloway stated that although she had no direct knowledge, she had previously heard a "rumor." Additionally, one employee, Sita Edmond, indicated that as to the claim concerning theft of personal correspondence, LaFond had told her that he had heard that Urso was "sneaking into people's desks," but did not mention any specific events. Thames concluded that none of these individuals corroborated any of the charges of wrongdoing by Urso, and on March 31, 1992, met with LaFond and informed him that although he was willing to believe LaFond's story, there was absolutely no evidence supporting his claims of wrongdoing by Urso. LaFond was given another opportunity to offer support for his charges. He responded that he expected negative responses from the interviewed employees because they were fearful of losing their jobs. He also offered to take a lie-detector test, which offer was refused.

On April 16, 1992, LaFond was placed on administrative leave with pay. Bunty explained that although he believed that LaFond believed the allegations, the investigation revealed no evidence that corroborated As you are aware, you mailed a letter on March 6, 1992 that has precipitated an unpleasant chain of events. Your letter, at first anonymous and later acknowledged, alleged that [Urso] ... had committed various unprofessional and illegal acts. You have not provided us with any evidence to support your accusations and we have been unable to uncover any evidence supporting those accusations through our own investigation. In the course of that investigation, you made statements that were inconsistent, suggesting that you may have knowingly made false statements. The employees whom you identified as witnesses or corroborators have not provided any support for your allegations. Both [Thames] and I have repeatedly asked you to provide any evidence that would support your allegations and you have failed to do...