Partner Deanna Forbush of our Labor & Employment Practice Group recently secured a victory in the Nevada Supreme Court on a matter of first impression that will benefit all employers by establishing a two-year statute of limitations for wrongful termination claims.

The decision in Patush v. Las Vegas Bistro, LLC upheld the lower court’s decision to dismiss as time-barred a wrongful termination action filed by a former employee nearly four years after her termination.

In clarifying the applicable limitations period, the Nevada Supreme Court determined that wrongful termination claims – including those involving alleged violations of public policy – are analogous to personal injury claims and therefore subject to the standard two-year limitations period.

In so ruling, the justices rejected the appellant’s argument that her claims should be subject to the four-year limitations period for actions based on an unwritten contract. The court opined that wrongful termination claims “fundamentally seek redress for a violation of personal rights protected by public policy, not of a contractual dispute.”

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