Matros v. Commonwealth Edison Co., 2019 IL App (1st) 180907

A former employee brought an action against his former employer and its parent company for retaliatory discharge following termination of his employment alleging he was fired in retaliation for exercising his rights pursuant to the Workers' Compensation Act when he filed two workers' compensation claims for injuries to his shoulders and psyche. The Circuit Court entered judgment in favor of former employer, finding valid non-pretextual reasons for employee's discharge. Employee appealed. The Appellate Court affirmed and held that: (1) the employee failed to establish a causal connection between his workers' compensation claim and his termination; (2) the finding that employee had engaged in outright lies about his medical condition to employer so that his discharge was not premised on workers' compensation claim but rather on lack of integrity was not against the manifest weight of the evidence; (3) the finding that there was nothing retaliatory in employer's decision to terminate employee on basis of total work record was not against the manifest weight of the evidence; and (4) the evidence demonstrated new triggering event that permitted employee's termination on basis of his total work record.