News & Analysis as of

At-Will Employment Public Policy Wrongful Termination

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Fourth Circuit Finds Internal Complaint About Care Recommendations Supports Wrongful Discharge Claim

North Carolina is an at-will employment state, but recognizes a limited exception from that rule for terminations that violate the state’s public policy. Courts have wrestled for years over the meaning of public policy and...more

Clark Hill PLC

Colorado Court of Appeals Adopts Definition of “Actual Discharge” Applied by Federal Courts in Colorado Employment Law Wrongful...

Clark Hill PLC on

In a case of first impression in Colorado, the Colorado Court of Appeals adopts a test for evaluating a claim of actual discharge under Colorado law. In this Colorado employment law case, Plaintiff ex-employee, Ms. Potts,...more

Pullman & Comley - Labor, Employment and...

The Doctrine of “Wrongful Discharge in Violation of Public Policy” Takes Flight Again in Decision of the Connecticut Supreme Court

On Tuesday, March 21, 2023, the Connecticut Supreme Court announced a significant new decision concerning lawsuits by employees alleging “wrongful discharge in violation of public policy.”  Most employers in Connecticut are...more

Bodman

Employers Beware! Michigan Supreme Court Clarifies and Expands Public-Policy Exception to At-Will Employment Presumption

Bodman on

On July 15, 2022, the Michigan Supreme Court clarified and, arguably, expanded the public-policy exception to the well-established at-will employment presumption in Michigan. Although the case may conclude differently after...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

North Carolina Court Says State Disability Rights Law Does Not Preclude Wrongful Discharge Action

In its 1989 Coman v. Thomas Mfg. Co., Inc. decision, the North Carolina Supreme Court recognized a limited exception to the state’s employment-at-will doctrine. That exception allows employees to sue for wrongful discharge if...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

North Carolina Court Says State Disability Rights Law Does Not Preclude Wrongful Discharge Action

In its 1989 Coman v. Thomas Mfg. Co., Inc. decision, the North Carolina Supreme Court recognized a limited exception to the state’s employment-at-will doctrine. That exception allows employees to sue for wrongful discharge if...more

McAfee & Taft

Home Depot employee’s wrongful discharge claim hammered

McAfee & Taft on

Under some circumstances, Oklahoma law recognizes that terminated employees may pursue a public policy wrongful discharge claim against a former employer. These claims allow a narrow exception to the employment at-will status...more

Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Adds New Personnel Records Wrinkle to Public Policy Exception to Termination of At-Will...

A recent decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (the “SJC”) significantly expanded the Massachusetts common-law public policy exception to termination of at-will employees.  This decision, Meehan v. Med. Info....more

Morgan, Brown & Joy, LLP

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Finds that Employees Cannot be Terminated Merely for Filing a Rebuttal to a Personnel Record

On December 17, 2021, Meehan v. Medical Information Technology, Inc., the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts (“SJC”) held that an employee’s filing a rebuttal to information placed in their personnel file that could...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Rules in Favor of Worker Fired for Rebutting Negative Performance Improvement Plan

On December 17, 2021, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruled that an employee discharged for submitting a written rebuttal to his employer in response to the placement of negative information in his personnel...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Massachusetts Appeals Court Reinforces Narrow Interpretation of Public Policy Exception to At-Will Employment

On January 20, 2021, an expanded five-judge panel of the Massachusetts Appeals Court issued its opinion in Terence Meehan v. Medical Information Technology, Inc., No. 19-P-1412, and affirmed a lower court decision granting...more

Proskauer - Law and the Workplace

Massachusetts Appeals Court Weighs In On Public Policy Exception To General At-Will Employee Termination Clause

The Massachusetts Appeals Court, in a slip op opinion issued on January 20, 2021, decided that at-will employees can be terminated for submitting rebuttal letters pursuant to G.L.c. 149, §52C (“Section 52C”), and cannot avail...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Does it Violate Public Policy to Terminate a Drunk Employee? “Absolut”-ly Not

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

Seyfarth Synopsis:  Does Pennsylvania’s public policy preclude a nuclear power plant from terminating an employee for being drunk on the job? “No,” the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania...more

Burr & Forman

SC Supreme Court decides building official's public-policy case

Burr & Forman on

At-will employment is the normal employer-employee relationship in South Carolina. In 2004, the state legislature passed a law stating that handbooks that took certain reasonable steps did not create a contractual exception...more

FordHarrison

Virginia Supreme Court Refuses to Expand Bowman Doctrine for Wrongful Termination of an At-Will Employee

FordHarrison on

In Bowman v. State Bank of Keysville, the Virginia Supreme Court first recognized an exception to the employment at-will doctrine based upon an employer’s violation of public policy in the discharge of an employee. In...more

Littler

Virginia Supreme Court Denies Expansion of Public Policy Exception for Wrongful Termination Claims

Littler on

The Supreme Court of Virginia, in Francis v. National Accrediting Commission of Career Arts & Sciences, Inc., No. 160267 (Feb. 23, 2017), reaffirmed that the public policy exception to Virginia’s employment at-will doctrine...more

Burr & Forman

South Carolina court says 'NO' to employee's claims against Boeing

Burr & Forman on

Employees and their counsel have been very aggressive in attempting to couch employment claims as state-law matters and filing claims in state court instead of federal court to try to avoid the federal judiciary. For various...more

Pullman & Comley - Labor, Employment and...

Differences in Public Policy Can Affect Claims of Wrongful Discharge

Most jurisdictions, including Connecticut, recognize a tort of “wrongful discharge” as an exception to the principle of employment at will. Although employment at will generally allows either the employer or the employee to...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Fifth Circuit Broadens Exceptions to At-Will Employment

On August 8, 2016, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recognized a new public policy exception to the at-will employment doctrine, allowing a former employee to sue his employer for terminating his employment for legally...more

Cozen O'Connor

New Decision Allows Employee Suit for Violation of Concealed Handgun Law

Cozen O'Connor on

Texas and many other states in the South have passed state laws in recent years restricting employers from terminating employees who keep their lawfully-licensed concealed handgun locked in their vehicle. For the most part,...more

McAfee & Taft

Wrongful discharge – alive and well in Oklahoma

McAfee & Taft on

It’s been awhile since Oklahoma’s Supreme Court weighed in on the ability of fired employees to sue their employers for wrongful discharge. Now a vomiting nurse gets to take a shot at the nursing center that terminated his...more

Fisher Phillips

Contracts May Not Be All They're Cracked Up To Be: The Extension Of Legal Protections In Employee Contractual Settings

Fisher Phillips on

For many years, employers have generally embraced a policy of utilizing at-will employment as often as possible, where employers and employees can end their relationship with each other at any time and for any (legal) reason....more

Butler Snow LLP

BRING-YOUR-GUN-TO-WORK-DAY? . . . . MAYBE! Swindol v. Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation

Butler Snow LLP on

Robert Swindol brought his gun to work . . . kind of. He parked his car in the Aurora Flight Services parking lot with his firearm locked inside. Aurora’s mangers learned about the firearm and fired Swindol that day for...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

South Carolina Does Not Protect Employee Against Discharge for Reporting Crime to Police

Like most states, South Carolina recognizes a limited exception to its at-will employment doctrine. South Carolina employees can sue their employers for wrongful discharge if the reason for termination violates state public...more

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