Burch v. Ohio Farmers Ins. Co.: Employment Claims Revived After Dismissal

LaGreta Burch began working for Westfield Insurance Company in 2006 as a bodily injury specialist and was promoted to litigation specialist in 2014. In November 2014, she informed her manager, Betsy Jones, that she was pregnant. Burch alleged that Jones engaged in pregnancy-based disparate treatment during her pregnancy and that the treatment continued when she returned from parental leave in August 2015. On August 31, 2015, she reported Jones’s behavior to Westfield’s human resources department, which determined Jones’s actions did not constitute harassment but transferred Burch to another team.

Burch alleged that after her complaint, Jones and another supervisor retaliated against her by increasing her workload without a corresponding salary increase from 2014 through 2018. In 2020, Burch sought a promotion to a bodily injury leader position. She was encouraged to apply but later informed she would not be interviewed because she had spoken to a department head without permission. The position was filled by a less-qualified male employee. Burch also claimed her workload was reduced in early 2020 compared to the previous year. She alleged that these conditions resulted in her constructive discharge on May 12, 2020.

Burch then found work with Wayne Mutual Insurance Company. During discovery in her lawsuit, Westfield subpoenaed her new employer and an attorney she had worked with, which she alleged was retaliatory conduct.

Original Complaint and Procedural History

On July 29, 2020, Burch filed her original complaint in the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas against Westfield Insurance Company and Betsy Jones. She alleged pregnancy discrimination, hostile environment harassment, and retaliation. She later sought to amend the complaint to add Ohio Farmers Insurance Company and additional claims. In October 2021, she voluntarily dismissed the complaint without prejudice.

On December 21, 2021, Burch refiled her complaint against Ohio Farmers Insurance Company, Westfield Insurance Company, and Betsy Jones. This new complaint repeated her earlier claims and added another retaliation claim based on Westfield’s subpoenas issued during discovery.

Trial Court Decision

Ohio Farmers moved to dismiss, arguing that the Employment Law Uniformity Act (ELUA), effective April 15, 2021, applied to bar Burch’s claims because it shortened the statute of limitations to two years, required exhaustion of administrative remedies, and prohibited individual supervisor liability. The trial court agreed, holding that Burch’s refiled complaint was not substantially the same as her original complaint and thus not protected by Ohio’s savings statute. It dismissed the complaint as untimely and barred under the ELUA.

Appellate Review

The Court of Appeals of Ohio, Fifth Appellate District, reviewed whether the ELUA applied retroactively to Burch’s claims, which accrued before its effective date. The court noted that the Ohio Constitution prohibits retroactive laws unless the legislature expressly states otherwise, and the ELUA contained no retroactivity provision. The court found Burch’s claims accrued in May 2020 and March 2021, both before April 15, 2021. Therefore, her claims were subject to the prior six-year statute of limitations under R.C. 4112, not the ELUA’s two-year limit.

The court also determined that the ELUA’s bar on supervisor liability could not apply retroactively. It held that Burch’s claims against Jones could proceed under pre-ELUA law, which permitted individual liability. Regarding retaliation, the court held that Burch’s claims were not barred by the ELUA’s administrative exhaustion requirement, since the requirement did not apply to pre-ELUA claims.

Court’s Decision

On March 21, 2023, the Court of Appeals of Ohio reversed the trial court’s dismissal and remanded the case for further proceedings. It held that the ELUA did not apply retroactively and that Burch’s complaint was timely and properly filed under the law in effect when her claims accrued.

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