Discharge in Violation of Public Policy

The most widely accepted ground for wrongful discharge cases is that the discharge was in violation of a public policy. A court's rationale for holding that a discharge violates public policy is basically that if the court did not invalidate the discharge, the effect would be that it would undermine some policy toward the people as a whole. Example: Courts in some states would consider it illegal for an employer to discharge an employee for taking time off work to serve jury duty.

You have to be careful, though, in attempting to determine what is and what not a "public policy." In some states, where employment at-will is strongly defended by the courts, the plaintiff must show that the alleged public policy is in a written constitution or statute of the state, or even a court decision. On the other hand in states where at-will employment is not respected the courts may accept virtually anything as violating some general public policy.

Some examples of situations considered by some state courts to be wrongful discharge by violation of public policy include discharge for filing workers' compensation claims; discharge for employees who refuse to commit crimes to benefit their employers; discharge for employees who refuse to lie in court testimony; discharges for refusing to falsify records; and exercising a constitutional right. Discharging an employee in retaliation for whistle blowing is another exception to the at-will doctrine and is a violation of public policy. Also retaliatory discharge (terminating an employee for exercising a right) can also violate pubic policy.