Man bites dog: Court says boss can sue employee

Here’s a ruling that could be music to the ears of supervisors across the country: According to the Ohio Supreme Court, bosses can sue employees for filing frivolous discrimination and harassment suits.
A supervisor was named personally as a defendant in a discrimination suit. After a judge ruled in his favor, she sued the employee for “malicious prosecution,” to recover his defense costs and get punitive damages.
The state Civil Rights Commission and an appeals court dismissed his case on the grounds that filing such a suit constituted illegal retaliation – regardless of how frivolous the employee’s discrimination suit may have been.
But the state Supreme Court disagreed, and sent the case back to the lower courts to be re-examined, with the merits of the original case taken into account. A “well grounded, objectively based” counter-suit would not be considered retaliation, the judges said.
Still risky
That’s good news for bosses and employers, because lawsuits can cause a good deal of damage, even if the outcome is in their favor. However, they’ll still want to proceed very cautiously in cases like this – experts say it’s difficult to prove a suit was filed maliciously, and there’s still a risk of getting hit with a retaliation charge.
Cite: Greer-Burger v. Temesi