Carl v. Children's Hospital, 702 A.2d 159 (1997)

Citation: Carl v. Children's Hospital, 702 A.2d 159 (1997)
Parent Document: Carl v. Children's Hospital, 702 A.2d 159 (1997)
Jurisdiction: DC (municipal)
Effective Date: 1997-09-23
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/2395626/carl-v-childrens-hospital/ ↗

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A couple of examples may clarify application of the statutory policy in the employer-employee context. It seems clear enough that, under section 1-224, an employer could not slash the tires of an employee’s car in retaliation for that employee's testifying before the Council. Nor could the employer send a letter threatening to do so as a way of frightening the employee into not giving testimony. Such thuggery, however, is not likely to be the manner in which an employer would choose to impede or injure an employee whom it does not want to testify before the Council. An employer’s most effective power to injure an employee arises from the employment relationship itself. There are many actions that an employer could take against an employee which conceivably could “influence, intimidate, or impede” that employee’s testimony before the Council. But the most severe and most effective one—the one that would inflict the greatest injury on the person or property of the employee—is the termination of employment. That is the injury that Ms. Carl has alleged. Given the intent of the Council in section 1-224 to shield persons who testify before it from retaliation against their person or property interests, I think she is entitled to prove that injury if she can, and therefore the dismissal of her complaint should be reversed.9

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