Balog
Balog v. LRJV, Inc.
Opinion
Lead Opinion
McDaniel, J.
Facts
Richard Balog (Balog) worked for 21 years as a safety valve and angle valve repairperson at the GATX Corporation in Masury, Ohio. When GATX closed its plant, he lost his job. Like many other workers from the Midwest and other depressed areas of the country, he looked for work in California.
Balog was ultimately hired by LRJV and Railguard to work as a supervisor at their Lundeen Railcar Repair Services business in Daggett, California. Lundeen Railcar Repair Services cleaned and repaired railroad cars, particularly those which were being used to transport toxic and hazardous materials.
Less than three months after being hired, Balog was fired from his job as supervisor. He thereafter filed a complaint for damages alleged to have resulted from a retaliatory discharge and from intentional infliction of emotional distress. The suit named Lundeen Corporation, Norman Oley, the vice president and general manager of the Daggett operation, Earl L. Krebs, the Daggett facility’s plant superintendent, and numerous Does. In his complaint, Balog alleged he was told he was being terminated in retaliation for: (1) his complaints that defendants were not complying with minimum…