A federal appeals court, one step below the U.S. Supreme Court, issued two orders in favor of employers and insurers, one involving black lung and one regarding a black delivery driver.
i Keith McKinott v. United Parcel ServiceAmerican 11Th The Circuit Court of Appeals found that a lower court did not abuse its discretion when it barred McKnight’s witness testimony. The opinion follows a federal jury ruling in Central Florida, which found that UPS did not retaliate against the driver.
In 2017, McKinott, a driver at UPS’s Kissimmee center, alleged that a newly installed manager unfairly scrutinized his work practices and discriminated against him. The court explained that McKinott had filed nearly 2,000 complaints, and co-workers had warned that he exhibited mental health issues. He was fired in 2022 and filed a lawsuit alleging retaliation and violations of Title VII of the US Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Florida Civil Rights Act.
A district court judge excluded the testimony of a co-worker, finding it unreliable. The jury found in favor of UPS and held that McKnight failed to prove that UPS wrongfully terminated him. The appeals court agreed.
“Because we cannot conclude that McKinott’s substantial rights were affected by the exclusion of Long (the co-worker’s) testimony, he is not entitled to reversal.”Th A circuit panel of judges wrote in the opinion.
In another ruling this week, an appeals court found that a federal benefits review board was in error when it ruled that longtime coal-fired railroad workers in Alabama were eligible for black lung benefits.
Billy Barr Jr. worked for years as a railroad engineer, hauling coal from an underground mine in northern Alabama. Later, when the mine closed, he worked in a manufacturing plant. Courts agreed that he had been exposed to coal dust for years, and was forced to use oxygen after developing respiratory problems.
After Barr’s death, his widow filed a claim for survivor benefits under the federal workers’ compensation program. An administrative law judge denied the claim, noting that Barr had not worked in an underground coal mine for 15 years, as required by federal benefits law.
The Benefits Review Board overturned that decision, finding that the manufacturing plant was connected to the mine, which is connected by a mile-long conveyor belt. But on appeal from Fairfield Southern Co., 11Th A circuit panel of judges overruled the board. The appellate court noted that Barr’s aboveground operation would qualify for a presumption that the operation caused his disease, but the legal definition of a coal mine requires that the prepartition plant and the mine be within five miles of each other.
The Court of Appeals remanded the case to the Board of Review for further proceedings. Feedback can be found here.
Image above: Adobe Stock
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