Springer v. Weeks and Leo Co., Inc.

• Decision Date: 21 September 1988
• Citation: 429 N.W.2d 558
• Parties: , 57 USLW 2263, 122 Lab.Cas. P 57,047, 3 IER Cases 1345 Mary SPRINGER, Appellant, v. WEEKS AND LEO COMPANY, INC., Appellee. 87-816.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 558

429 N.W.2d 558

57 USLW 2211, 57 USLW 2263, 122 Lab.Cas. P 57,047,

3 IER Cases 1345

Mary SPRINGER, Appellant, v. WEEKS AND LEO COMPANY, INC., Appellee.

87-816.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Sept. 21, 1988.

Rehearing Denied Oct. 13, 1988.

Thomas M. Werner, Des Moines, for appellant.

Lori A. Liljedahl and Gary S. Gill, Des Moines, for appellee.

Considered en banc.

CARTER, Justice.

Mary Springer, the plaintiff in a wrongful discharge action, appeals from an adverse judgment following a directed verdict for her former employer, Weeks & Leo Company (defendant). Plaintiff alleged that her discharge was due to her efforts in pursuing a workers' compensation claim against her employer. She contends that discharging an employee for this reason so offends against public policy that the employer's conduct should be recognized as an actionable, tortious interference with the contract of employment.

We agree that discharging an employee merely for pursuing the statutory right to compensation for work-related injuries offends against a clearly articulated public policy of this state. This type of conduct by an employer, if established, will support a claim for tortious interference with the contractual relationship. On the record before us, we conclude that plaintiff's evidence was sufficient to present a jury issue as to whether her discharge was due to the filing of a workers' compensation claim against defendant. We reverse the judgment of the district court and remand the action to that court for a retrial of the issues.

Plaintiff was employed by defendant in June 1983. Defendant is engaged in the manufacture and sale of cosmetics and over-the-counter pharmaceutical products. Plaintiff initially worked on an assembly line filling bottles and was later transferred into the labeling department. Her work also included some light dusting and cleaning duties.

The labeling activity in which plaintiff was engaged required the constant use of her hands and fingers. The record indicates that in January 1984, plaintiff began to develop severe pains and spasms in her hands and fingers. Her doctor diagnosed this condition as bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome. Surgery was performed to correct this condition on April 24, 1984.

During a recuperation period of approximately ten weeks, plaintiff filed a workers' compensation claim alleging that her carpal tunnel syndrome condition was caused by the physical activities required in her employment with defendant. Defendant's workers' compensation insurance carrier investigated the claim, made a preliminary determination that there had been a work-related injury and began paying benefits to plaintiff prior to the time she was released by her physician to return to work. On July 2, 1984, plaintiff was released by her physician to return to her employment.

Plaintiff testified at the trial of this action that, when she returned to work on that date, she was informed by defendant's manager that she could not resume working unless she signed a document stating that her carpal tunnel syndrome problems were not work-related. Plaintiff testified that she refused to do this and was then advised by the manager to obtain a written statement from her physician authorizing her return to work and certifying that her employment would not cause a recurrence of her condition. Plaintiff did obtain a written statement from her physician releasing her to return to work without reservation. The physician declined, however, to state that her work-related activity would not cause a recurrence of the carpal tunnel syndrome condition.

On July 5, 1984, plaintiff was discharged from her employment. Ultimately, on March 13, 1985, plaintiff's workers' compensation claim was resolved by a stipulation in which the employer and insurance carrier agreed that her hand disablement had arisen out of and in the course of her employment with defendant. Plaintiff commenced this action against defendant on July 11, 1985.

Following the presentation of plaintiff's evidence, the district court directed a verdict in favor of defendant primarily on the ground that plaintiff was an at-will employee and could be discharged for any reason at all. The court also expressed the view that plaintiff's evidence was insufficient to create a jury issue on whether her discharge was due to her filing a workers' compensation claim. Other facts which are significant in deciding this appeal will be discussed in connection with our consideration of the legal issues presented.

I. Tortious Termination of Employment At Will.

The defendant asserts that the judgment should be affirmed because plaintiff was an employee at will. Plaintiff does not dispute this characterization of the employment relationship but argues that this court recognized in Abrisz v. Pulley Freight Lines, Inc., 270 N.W.2d 454, 455 (Iowa 1978), that, even under employment- -at-will relationships, a remedy for damages may exist when the employment is terminated for reasons contrary to public policy. We stated in Abrisz that this doctrine "has recently gained considerable favor with courts." Id.

Examples of courts granting judicial remedies for the discharge of at-will employees for reasons deemed to be contrary to public policy include the following: Petermann v. International Bhd. of Teamsters, 174 Cal.App.2d 184, 188-89, 344 P.2d 25, 27 (1959) (discharge for refusal of employee to commit perjury at employer's behest); Parnar v. Americana Hotels, 65 Haw. 370, 379-80, 652 P.2d 625, 631 (1982) (discharge of employee for cooperation with grand jury investigating employer's anticompetitive business practices); Palmateer v. International Harvestor Co., 85 Ill.2d 124, 130, 52 Ill.Dec. 13, 16-17, 421 N.E.2d 876, 879-80 (1981) (discharge of employee for supplying law enforcement authorities with information concerning criminal acts of co-employee); Monge v. Beebe Rubber Co., 114 N.H. 130, 133, 316 A.2d 549, 551 (1974) (discharge of employee for refusal to submit to supervisor's sexual advances); Nees v. Hocks, 272 Or. 210, 218-19, 536 P.2d 512, 514-15 (1975) (discharge of employee for serving on a jury); and Wandry v. Bull's Eye Credit Union, 129 Wis.2d 37, 48-49, 384 N.W.2d 325, 330 (1986) (discharge of employee for refusing to reimburse employer for loss on forged check which had been cashed with approval of employee's supervisor).

By far the largest category of cases where a judicial remedy has been recognized for discharging an employee at will for reasons which contravene public policy are cases such as the present one where the cause for discharge is alleged to be the filing of a workers' compensation claim by the employee. These cases include Midgett v. Sackett-Chicago, Inc., 105 Ill.2d 143, 148, 85 Ill.Dec. 475, 478-79, 473 N.E.2d 1280, 1283-84 (1984), cert. denied, 472 U.S. 1032, 105 S.Ct. 3513, 87 L.Ed.2d 642 (1985); Frampton v. Central Ind. Gas Co., 260 Ind. 249, 251-53, 297 N.E.2d 425, 428 (1973); Murphy v. City of Topeka, 6 Kan.App.2d 488, 495-96, 630 P.2d 186, 192 (1981); Sventko v. Kroger Co., 69 Mich.App. 644, 647, 245 N.W.2d 151, 153 (1976); Hansen v. Harrah's, 100 Nev. 60, 64, 675 P.2d 394, 396-97 (1984); Krein v. Marian Manor Nursing Home, 415 N.W.2d 793, 794-95 (N.D.1987); Clanton v. Cain-Sloan Co., 677 S.W.2d 441, 445 (Tenn.1984); and Shanholtz v. Monongahela Power Co., 270 S.E.2d 178, 182-83 (W.Va.1980).

Notwithstanding our recognition in Abrisz that several courts had granted remedies to employees at will who were discharged for reasons that contravene public policy, we were not required to apply this doctrine in deciding that case. This was because we determined that the trier of fact in the Abrisz case had properly determined that the discharge was for reasons other than those alleged by the employee and which did not contravene public policy.

In the present case, we conclude that plaintiff's evidence was sufficient to generate a jury issue as to whether her discharge was due to the filing of a workers' compensation claim. Consequently, because the district court directed a verdict based on her employee-at-will status, we must now consider and determine whether a discharge for this reason so contravenes public policy as to constitute a tortious interference with the employee's contract of hire. We conclude that it does.

We believe a cause of action should exist for tortious interference with the contract of hire when the discharge serves to frustrate a well-recognized and defined public policy of the state. It is provided in Iowa Code section 85.18 (1987) that:

No contract, rule, or device whatsoever shall operate to relieve the employer, in whole or in part, from any liability created by this chapter except as herein provided.

We deem this to be a clear expression that it is the public policy of this state that an employee's right to seek the compensation which is granted by law for work-related injuries should not be interfered with regardless of the terms of the contract of hire. To permit the type of retaliatory discharge which has been alleged in this case to go without a remedy would fly in the face of this policy.

The Illinois court in Kelsay v. Motorola, Inc., 74 Ill.2d 172, 23 Ill.Dec. 559, 384 N.E.2d 353 (1978), stated the issue this way:

[T]he legislature enacted the workmen's compensation law as a comprehensive scheme to provide for efficient and expeditious remedies for injured employees. This scheme would be seriously undermined if employers were permitted to abuse their power to terminate by threatening to discharge employees for seeking compensation under the Act. We cannot ignore the fact that when faced with such a dilemma many employees, whose common law rights have been supplanted by the Act, would choose to retain their jobs, and thus, in effect, would be left without a remedy [under] either common law or statut[e]. This result, which effectively relieves the employer of the responsibility expressly placed upon him...