News & Analysis as of

Public Policy At-Will Employment

Dickinson Wright

The Michigan Supreme Court Expands Public Policy Causes of Action for Retaliatory Discharge

Dickinson Wright on

Under Michigan’s Occupational Health and Safety Act (“MiOSHA”), employers may not “discharge an employee or in any manner discriminate against an employee because the employee filed a complaint” regarding the employer’s...more

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

Conn Kavanaugh

Employers Beware: M.G.L c. 149, § 52C Right to Rebut Trumps At-Will Employment

Conn Kavanaugh on

Massachusetts law gives employees the right to submit a written statement explaining the employee’s position when the employee disagrees with any information contained in the employee’s personnel record. This written...more

Ward and Smith, P.A.

So Much for "9 to 5": Employers' Consideration of Employees' and Applicants' Conduct Outside of Work

Ward and Smith, P.A. on

Arbitrary judgments are as old as humanity itself. Law evolved in part to try to spare us all from some of them and provide order and predictability in their place. That evolution, and occasional revolution, eventually gave...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

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

Indiana Supreme Court Favors Employee Over Interpretation of “Public Policy” Exception to At-Will Employment.

In Perkins v. Memorial Hospital of South Bend (Case No. 20S-CT-233), a split Indiana Supreme Court ruled in favor of an employee who was discharged after testifying against Memorial Hospital of South Bend at a coworker’s...more

FordHarrison

Perhaps Silicon Valley’s Pied Piper Could Use Good Employment Counsel

FordHarrison on

I am currently bingeing my way through HBO’s Silicon Valley after not having watched the show for several years (I’ve always found it entertaining enough, but life, you know?). The series chronicles the experiences of a small...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

The state of at-will employment in South Carolina

Burr & Forman on

My articles usually analyze a particular case and the impact of the court's decision on the relationship between employers and employees. With the release of a number of decisions addressing employment at will earlier this...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...

Finding Ways to Sue

An employee who is terminated from employment does not have a legal right to sue the employer simply because he believes that the termination was “unfair.” While union contracts typically contain a provision that discipline,...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

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