Ruling against injured worker in retaliatory discharge case overturned

A Missouri appeals court on Tuesday reversed a lower court ruling against an injured worker who claimed retaliatory discharge after filing a workers compensation claim.

Travis Poke, a former custodian for the Independence School District, injured his lower abdomen and groin while attempting to fold a cafeteria table in December 2019. according to documents in Poke v. Independence School District, filed in the Court of Appeals of Missouri, Western District, in Kansas City.

Mr. Poke worked through his pain over the following weeks, before suffering a second injury in January 2020 that required medical attention. He initiated a workers compensation claim the following day and later received medical treatment authorized by the district, according to court documents.

On Jan. 27, 2020, the school district discharged Mr. Poke, saying in a letter that he had been terminated for violating the school district’s drug policy. According to the letter, a urine sample taken during Mr. Poke’s medical treatment tested positive for marijuana. The district cited the positive drug test to both terminate Mr. Poke’s employment and deny his workers compensation claim, documents state.

Mr. Poke filed a petition against the district alleging the basis for his termination was “pretextual” and “in retaliation for exercising his rights under the Workers’ Compensation Law.” The trial court ruled in favor of the district, citing its “sovereign immunity.” The judgment further found that the district’s liability insurance policy did not waive sovereign immunity.

The appeals court ruled the district was not protected by sovereign immunity, reversing the trial court’s decision and remanding the case with instructions “to conduct further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”