By: Cynthia McNabb and Clive Pontusson
In Peiffer v. Pro-Cut Concrete, an employee sued his employer for altering his timecards and shorting him on reported wages. Charles Peiffer claimed that Pro-Cut had unfairly withheld his wages. He filed a complaint with the Washington Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) who took over fourteen (14) months to investigate without making any findings. Not wanting to wait further for L&I to complete their investigation, Peiffer hired an employment attorney and sued the employer for wrongful termination and the withholding of wages. In the lower court proceeding, the two sides argued over whether or not his decision to file a complaint with L&I had given him extra time to file his lawsuit. The Washington Court of Appeals decided that Peiffer was allowed extra time to file a lawsuit despite the fact that L&I had not yet completed its investigation. The Court also decided that Peiffer may have a claim for wrongful discharge, and sent the case back for a new trial. It can sometimes be difficult for individuals to want to go up against a large company, even when they feel they are fully in the right. In these cases, a whistleblower lawyer can provide their assistance in trying to protect the rights of individuals in this predicament. Individuals who are filing a lawsuit should also know what to expect from a process server and other legal experts they are hiring. In addition, employees who are facing employment discrimination aside from other employment issues may consider consulting with Anaheim employment lawyers for immediate legal assistance.
Charles Peiffer had been employed by Pro-Cut Concrete for many years. In 2008, he noticed that entries on his time card had been whited out and rewritten by management. His manager believed that employees were inflating their hours and decided to change things on his own. Peiffer complained about this, and ultimately quit in protest. Shortly afterward, he filed a complaint with L&I. While L&I complaints are “supposed” to be completed in 60 days, this one dragged on for 14 months. Peiffer became frustrated with the process and filed a private lawsuit against Pro-Cut with the help of an employer attorney. When they learned of the lawsuit, L&I closed his complaint. Additionally, employees who got injured from a work accident may consider contacting worker’s compensation lawyers for immediate legal assistance. You may contact this professional Schaumburg workers’ compensation attorney for professional help.
Peiffer argued that his employer was willfully withholding his wages (a violation of the law) and that because of this, he was “constructively discharged,” meaning he had little choice but to quit his job. Therefore, Peiffer also argued that he was wrongfully terminated, in violation of the clear public policy that employees have to get paid the wages that they are due. Like many civil lawsuits, Peiffer’s claim had a “statute of limitations”—a limited amount of time in which he could file his lawsuit. Peiffer argued that the clock on his claim stopped running when he filed the L&I complaint, and started running again once he filed his lawsuit.
The weight of the evidence clearly illustrated that Pro-Cut had altered Peiffer’s time cards. There was no defense provided to this claim. Pro-Cut instead, argued that because the L&I investigation was still ongoing when Peiffer filed his lawsuit, he did not allow L&I to conclude its investigation. Therefore, Peiffer was not allowed to use the L&I investigation to stop the clock on his civil law claim. For this reason, Pro-Cut argued that Peiffer had brought his lawsuit too late.
The Court of Appeals decided these complicated issues in favor of Peiffer: he did not have to wait forever before he sued to enforce his rights. The Court explained:
If a wage complainant decides during a department investigation that retaining a lawyer and pursuing a claim in court will be faster or more likely to succeed, the decision both advances the interest of the employee and frees up department resources to assist others.
This meant that the clock was stopped as L&I investigated Peiffer’s complaint: that fact didn’t change because he decided to pursue his own lawsuit before they finished. Finally, the Court determined that Peiffer had made a showing that he was wrongfully discharged:
The intolerable condition that led Mr. Peiffer to quit was Pro-Cut’s continuing failure to pay the amount of wages he was owed. […] Peiffer presented substantial evidence from which a trier of fact could find that a reasonable person in his position would have been forced to quit. Continuing complaints got him nowhere.
The Court of Appeals sent the case back to the trial court with instructions to re-hear the case in light of these rules.
Ultimately, employers are required to pay all wages due and to ensure accurate time records for their employees. There is little to no defense when an employer unilaterally alters time records to pay an employee less than what is due. It would be rare for either an L&I or court to release an employer from those fundamental obligations.
What is interesting about this case is how Mr. Peiffer responded to the employer’s bad acts and how the courts reacted to his decision to quit. Peiffer asked repeatedly for the employer to stop altering his time records. He asked to be paid his full and rightful salary. When Pro-cut continued to alter his time records, Peiffer’s recourse was to quit in protest. Furthermore, because Peiffer had an otherwise good employment record and had no other reason to quit, the Court found that he was constructively discharged. Employees who are faced with unlawful bad acts and/or placed in situations where there seems like there is little recourse should feel encouraged by the finding in this case.
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