What is Wrongful Termination?
One of the most promising developments in favor of the rights of at-will employees has been the acceptance of the tort of wrongful discharge. This new cause of action recent acceptance stems from a law professor’s book which provides a pretty simple formula to determine if an employee has been fired for reporting to either management or a public agency what they believe to be illegal actions by their employer. The Ohio Supreme Court has adopted this tort in the late 1980’s when it held that an employee who was fired for having to have child support deducted from his paycheck. The court found that the statute that required that an employer deduct court awarded child support provided a sufficient source of public policy to preclude an employer from firing an employee who was obligated to pay child support. The employee was permitted to proceed with his wrongful discharge lawsuit.
Over the last several years a number of basis for public policy have been recognized by the appellate courts Ohio. The sources of public policy can be from federal and state statutes, regulations, the federal or state constitutions or the common law. These sources of policy have lead to claims based upon the right to consult with an attorney; reporting a boss who was driving under the influence; testifying truthfully, though against the interests of the company; revealing trade secrets of a prior employer; reporting the abuse of children or residents of a nursing home; being fired for taking temporary total disability leave due to a work related agency; filing a complaint with OSHA, the EPA or the NRC; or reporting a crime that occurred at work and cooperating with the police or FBI. From this list, you get an idea of the broad scope of protection that can now protect you from a manager.
The most frequently asserted limitation of the wrongful discharge tort is the existence of a remedy under the statute that gives rise to the policy that was violated by the termination. For instance, in the area of civil rights, Ohio has a statute that prohibits racial, sex, religious, national origin, disability and age discrimination> Yet this law applies to an employer who has at least four employees. So are employers with fewer than four workers entitled to discriminate? No says the Ohio Supreme Court which has held that the policy reflected by the anti-discrimination laws allowed a wrongful discharge claim against a smaller employer. Also of concern is the scope or range of remedies available under the statute may impact the ability to bring such a claim. Suffice it to say, the more remedies that statute provides, the less likely a public policy claim can be used.
