Employee Can Sue For Constructive Wrongful Discharge

An employee fired for refusing to do an illegal act in the course of his or her employment may sue for wrongful discharge.  An employee faced with intolerable conditions of employment and thereby compelled to quit is constructively discharged.  The Indiana Court of Appeals recently combined the two concepts and ruled in Baker v. Tremco, Inc. (No. 29A02-0711-Cv-1001 July 16, 2008)

that an employee constructively discharged because he refused to commit an illegal act in the course of employment may sue for damages.  “It makes little sense,” the court observed, “to allow an employer to accomplish constructively what the law will not allow it to do directly.” 

Robert L. Abell
www.RobertAbellLaw.com

Employee Fired For Reporting Co-Employee’s Illegal Acts May Sue

An employee fired for reporting a co-employee’s illegal acts relating to their employment may sue for wrongful termination and retaliatory discharge, the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled recently in DeCarlo v. Bonus Stores, Inc. (No. 2007-FC-02287-SCT).

DeCarlo learned that the company CEO was defrauding the company.  He reported this information to the company’s CFO and several members of the company’s board of directors.  He was fired and filed a wrongful termination lawsuit for retaliatory discharge.  The court ruled that his claim presented an exception to the employment-at-will doctrine and that a wrongful termination claim arose from a “discharge in retaliation for reporting a co-employee’s illegal acts that relate to the employer’s business.” 

Robert L. Abell
www.RobertAbellLaw.com