Complaints Insufficient to Create Retaliatory Dismissal

In Pierce v. The Atlantic Group, Inc., COA 11-494, decided February 21, 2012, a fired employee filed suit claiming that he had been fired from his position as a lifting rigger supervising coordinator because of his attempts to have claimed operators and riggers certified.  The Trial Court found that the claim for retaliatory dismissal firing was properly dismissed because the employees’ actions were nothing more than complaints to his supervisors and did not constitute an “initiation of an inquiry” pursuant to NCGS § 95-241(a).  The Court of Appeals agreed and affirmed the dismissal.