Calovecchi v. Michigan

• Decision Date: 18 April 2000
• Docket Number: Docket No. 110091, Calendar No. 5.
• Citation: 611 N.W.2d 300,461 Mich. 616
• Parties: Ronald F. CALOVECCHI, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. State of MICHIGAN, Michigan State Police, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Michigan Supreme Court

611 N.W.2d 300

461 Mich. 616

Ronald F. CALOVECCHI, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. State of MICHIGAN, Michigan State Police, Defendant-Appellant.

Docket No. 110091, Calendar No. 5.

Supreme Court of Michigan.

Argued December 8, 1999.

Decided April 18, 2000.

Sinas, Dramis, Brake, Boughton § McIntyre, P.C. (by Deborah A. Deprez) Lansing, for the plaintiff-appellee.

Jennifer M. Granholm, Attorney General, Thomas L. Casey, Solicitor General, and Morrison Zack, Assistant Attorney General, Detroit, for the defendant-appellant.

Conklin, Benham, Ducey, Listman & Chuhran, P.C. (by Martin L. Critchell) Detroit, for amicus curiae Michigan Self-Insurers Association.

Lacey & Jones (by Gerald M. Marcinkoski) Birmingham, for amicus curiae DaimlerChrysler Corporation.

Opinion

CORRIGAN, J.

We granted leave in this worker's compensation case to determine whether Robinson v. Chrysler Corp., 139 Mich.App. 449, 363 N.W.2d 4 (1984), which held that mental injuries caused by termination from employment are not compensable under the Worker's Disability Compensation Act (WDCA), M.C.L. § 418.101 et seq.; MSA 17.237(101) et seq., should also preclude compensation for mental injuries caused by acts of discipline that do not sever the employment relationship. Because we conclude that Robinson does not support such a result, we affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals and remand the case to the Worker's Compensation Appellate Commission for consideration of defendant's remaining argument.

I. UNDERLYING FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The facts are undisputed. Plaintiff, a twenty-two-year veteran of defendant Michigan State Police, was the subject of an internal affairs investigation in the fall of 1989. The investigation resulted from allegations that plaintiff had drawn his gun on his stepson in July 1989 and that he had physically assaulted his wife in September 1989. On the basis of the internal affairs report, a State Police psychologist recommended to the officer in charge of state police personnel that plaintiff be relieved of his badge and gun and that he be required to undergo an independent psychological evaluation. The psychologist was concerned that plaintiff might not be "emotionally fit" to carry a weapon and that he might misuse a department-issued firearm.

On the morning of November 17, 1989, plaintiff was called to a meeting with a group of superior officers at his station and presented with a letter from the personnel officer. The letter stated that because of a "pattern of recent misconduct currently being investigated by the employer" plaintiff was to be relieved of his badge and gun and temporarily placed on paid administrative leave. Defendant took this action under article 27(3)(g) of the collective bargaining agreement between defendant and the Michigan State Police Trooper's Association.¹ Plaintiff's superiors told him that he could return to work as early as the next day if he met with a psychologist or psychiatrist of his choosing and agreed to counseling. Plaintiff felt totally disgraced when defendant took his badge and gun. He also claimed that he was embarrassed because he had to walk past several of his coworkers after leaving the room in which the meeting was held.

The incidents underlying the internal investigation never resulted in criminal charges or internal disciplinary action. Although plaintiff's wife had filed a complaint with the Eaton County Sheriff's Department, the Eaton County prosecutor denied her request for an assault and battery warrant in October 1989 after concluding that her version of the incident was not credible. Similarly, on November 28, 1989, the internal charges against plaintiff were dropped with the explanation that they were not sustained. The personnel officer acknowledged that the internal charges were not sustained because "the proofs [were] not there."

Plaintiff never returned to work after being placed on administrative leave. Instead, he continued to receive wages and benefits until he was formally placed on disability retirement in May 1990.

In December 1989, plaintiff filed a claim for worker's disability compensation benefits, alleging that he incurred a mental disability as a result of defendant's decision to take his badge and gun and place him on administrative leave. After a hearing, the magistrate found that plaintiff was "completely taken back" and that he "felt `completely humiliated'" by the November 17, 1989, meeting. The magistrate also found that plaintiff's reaction in these circumstances was "reasonable." Nevertheless, the magistrate denied benefits under the authority of Robinson, supra, reasoning that plaintiff's change in employment status could not, as a matter of law, produce an injury arising out of and in the course of employment. The magistrate made no finding regarding whether plaintiff had sustained a mental injury.

On appeal, the WCAC affirmed the magistrate's decision. It concluded that the magistrate had correctly applied Robinson, supra, when it found that "the November 17, 1989, meeting [could not] substantiate an injury arising out of and in the course of plaintiff's employment."² 1995 Mich. ACO 847, 850. The WCAC explained its decision as follows:

Even if plaintiff were found to be disabled, we believe the Magistrate was correct in determining that such disability would have been caused by his administrative leave rather than events arising out of and in the course of his employment with defendant. [Id.]

The Court of Appeals granted plaintiff's application for leave to appeal and reversed the decision of the WCAC. 223 Mich.App. 349, 566 N.W.2d 40 (1997). The panel explained that Robinson was based on the "simple proposition that an act of ending employment cannot be construed as being in the course of employment." Id. at 353, 566 N.W.2d 40. That proposition, it reasoned, "does not naturally extend to an act of discipline that is not intended to end the relationship." Id. Accordingly, the Court of Appeals remanded the matter to the Board of Magistrates for further proceedings. Id. at 353-354, 566 N.W.2d 40.

Defendant then sought leave to appeal, which this Court initially denied over Justice Boyle's dissent. 459 Mich. 878, 586 N.W.2d 744 (1998). On reconsideration, we granted defendant's application and specifically directed the parties to address the applicability of Robinson. 460 Mich. 853, 598 N.W.2d 336 (1999).

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

Whether the Robinson rule precludes an award of worker's compensation benefits on the basis of plaintiff's claim and the undisputed factual findings of the magistrate and the WCAC is a question of law. Michigan's appellate courts have the power to review questions of law involved in any final order of the WCAC. M.C.L. § 418.861; MSA 17.237(861), M.C.L. § 418.861a(14); MSA 17.237(861a)(14). We review such questions of law de novo. Oxley v. Dep't of Military Affairs, 460 Mich. 536, 540-541, 597 N.W.2d 89 (1999).

III. STATUTORY ANALYSIS

To qualify for compensation under the WDCA, a person must prove "a personal injury arising out of and in the course of employment." See M.C.L. § 418.301(1); MSA 17.237(301)(1); Haske v. Transport Leasing, Inc., 455 Mich. 628, 641, 566 N.W.2d 896 (1997); Simkins v. General Motors Corp. (After Remand), 453 Mich. 703, 710, 556 N.W.2d 839 (1996). The phrase "arising out of and in the course of" describes the necessary connection between the personal injury and employment.³ See Simkins, supra at 712-713, n. 14, 556 N.W.2d 839, citing Welch, Worker's Compensation in Michigan: Law & Practice (3d ed.), § 4.1, pp. 4-1 to 4-2. This Court has sometimes described the phrase as containing two parts, with the "arising out of" component expressing the need for a causal connection to an employment risk and the "in the course of" component expressing the need for a connection in time, place, and circumstances. See, e.g., Simkins, supra at 712-713, n. 14, 556 N.W.2d 839, citing Appleford v. Kimmel, 297 Mich. 8, 12, 296 N.W. 861 (1941). As we observed in Simkins, however, Michigan courts have generally viewed to the phrase as a whole to define the injury-employment connection.

In Robinson, supra, the Court of Appeals held that "[a] mental injury which arises from the loss of employment simply cannot logically `aris[e] out of and in the course of employment.'" 139 Mich.App at 451, 363 N.W.2d 4. In so doing, the Court of Appeals affirmed the Worker's Compensation Appellate Board's (WCAB) "longstanding interpretation of the act holding that mental injury caused by a termination of employment [was] not compensable" under the WDCA. Id. The factual recitation in Robinson was brief. Sometime after the plaintiff was discharged from his employment with the defendant, he was hospitalized as a result of a mental condition. Id. at 450, 363 N.W.2d 4. The WCAB found that the plaintiff's disability "arose out of the termination of his employment rather than due to his employment." Id. On the basis of this finding, the Court of Appeals affirmed the WCAB's determination that subsection 301(1) of the WDCA precluded the payment of benefits to the plaintiff.

The rationale for Robinson becomes somewhat clearer when considered in light of the underlying WCAB decision, in which the WCAB noted that the plaintiff's alleged mental injury stemmed from the "fact of termination" and "not even the way it was done." 1983 WCABO 670, 678. Because the plaintiff's injury stemmed from the mere fact of termination, and not from the manner of termination, we disagree with a reading of Robinson that would categorically remove the act of termination from the list of possible causes of compensable injury. At most, Robinson stands for the proposition that mental injuries arising solely from the cessation of employment are not compensable under subsection 301(1).

We need not determine whether Robinson was correctly decided because Robinson does not logically extend to the circumstances of this case. It is undisputed...