Federal: Since Illinois Workers’ Comp Act Created Retaliatory Discharge Action, It Could Not Be Removed to Federal Court

A federal district court, sitting in Illinois, held that in as much as a retaliatory discharge action in Illinois is created by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Act [see 820 Ill. Comp. Stat. Ann. § 305/4(h)], such a civil action may not be removed to federal court on the basis of diversity of citizenship. The employer had contended that the plaintiff’s tort action only had a “gloss” of workers’ compensation law and that since Illinois case law allowed the imposition of punitive damages the case could be removed. The district court disagreed and observed that, in general, no civil action arising under the workers’ compensation laws of a state could be removed.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is the co-author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law (LexisNexis).

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance. Bracketed citations link to lexis.com.

See Craig v. Ford Motor Co., 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 139554 (N.D. Ill. Oct. 14, 2015) [2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 139554 (N.D. Ill. Oct. 14, 2015)]

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 104.07 [104.07]

For a more detailed discussion of the case, see http://www.workcompwriter.com/illinois-retaliatory-discharge-claim-may-not-be-removed-to-federal-court/

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law.