Teachout v. Forest City Community School Dist., 97-683

• Decision Date: 23 September 1998
• Docket Number: No. 97-683,97-683
• Parties: 14 IER Cases 788 Christine TEACHOUT, Appellant, v. FOREST CITY COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT, Appellee.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 296

584 N.W.2d 296

14 IER Cases 788

Christine TEACHOUT, Appellant, v. FOREST CITY COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT, Appellee.

No. 97-683.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Sept. 23, 1998.

Mark A. Newman, Forest City, for appellant.

Joel J. Yunek and Richard R. Winga of Laird, Heiny, McManigal, Winga, Duffy & Stambaugh, P.L.C., Mason City, for appellee.

Considered by McGIVERIN, C.J., and LARSON, LAVORATO, NEUMAN, and TERNUS, JJ.

TERNUS, Justice.

Appellant, Christine Teachout, brought suit against her employer, appellee, Forest City Community School District, alleging she had been terminated from her position as a teaching assistant in retaliation for her attempts to report child abuse. The district court granted the District's motion for summary judgment on the basis Teachout could not prove that her reporting of child abuse was the determining factor in the District's decision to discharge her. We agree and affirm.

I. Standard of Review.

A summary judgment ruling is reviewed for errors of law. See Bearshield v. John Morrell & Co., 570 N.W.2d 915, 916 (Iowa 1997). Summary judgment should be granted where the moving party shows there is no genuine issue of material fact and he or she is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See Iowa R. Civ. P. 237(c). In assessing whether the movant has met this standard, we view the record in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. See Bearshield, 570 N.W.2d at 917.

II. Background Facts.

The record, when viewed in a light most favorable to Teachout, shows the following facts. In August 1995, Teachout was hired by the District as one of four teacher's assistants for a classroom of severely and profoundly disabled students. (She was also employed by the District as a cheerleading coach and bus driver.) As a teaching assistant, Teachout was supervised by the classroom teacher, Alyssan Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald, in turn, reported to the school principal, Lee Hinkley.

The record shows, and Teachout does not contest, that there was a personality clash between Fitzgerald and Teachout almost from the beginning of the school year. Fitzgerald's employment by the District was her first teaching position after graduating from college. In contrast, Teachout had worked with severely and profoundly disabled students for fourteen years. As a result, Fitzgerald and Teachout did not work well together. Fitzgerald claimed Teachout was not doing her job, did not follow directions, and assumed a controlling role in the classroom. A diary kept by Teachout documents numerous conflicts between Teachout and Fitzgerald, as well as between Teachout and the other teaching assistants. Most of these documented conflicts were unrelated to any incidents later alleged by Teachout to be abusive.

As early as October 5, Teachout felt her job was in jeopardy. Yet there is no evidence that Fitzgerald or any school administrator was aware at this time of Teachout's concern that child abuse had occurred in the classroom. At some point prior to mid-October, Fitzgerald discussed the situation with Hinkley.

Teachout testified that in late September and October she observed conduct toward the disabled students by Fitzgerald and one of the other assistants that Teachout viewed as child abuse. She eventually reported her concerns to a special education teacher, Sandy Plath, in mid-October. In addition, Teachout told Fitzgerald that she was documenting Fitzgerald's treatment of the students. On October 16 Plath called Hinkley to inform him that Teachout believed the disabled students had been subjected to abusive treatment.

After having been contacted by Fitzgerald and Plath, Hinkley met on several occasions with the classroom staff to address the continuing problems involving the employees' working relationships. In one meeting, Hinkley met with only Fitzgerald and Teachout. They talked about Teachout's perception that she was not being treated the same as the other assistants. Fitzgerald voiced her problems with Teachout's perceived interference with other staff members and her failure to follow instructions. Later, Hinkley met with two of the other teaching assistants who related continuing friction among the employees in the classroom. They reported that Fitzgerald was trying to improve the working relationships, but had not been successful. They told Hinkley the situation was having a negative impact on the staff and students.

The tension between Fitzgerald and Teachout continued. On November 15, after a confrontation between Teachout and Fitzgerald regarding Teachout's role in the classroom, Fitzgerald requested that Hinkley terminate Teachout's employment. Hinkley called Teachout that night and told her she was to be terminated as a teaching assistant in Fitzgerald's classroom. They agreed that Hinkley would explore the availability of other positions in the district.

The next day Teachout contacted the Department of Human Services (DHS) to make an oral report of her suspicions of child abuse. DHS agreed to send the necessary forms to Teachout and directed her to make her report to the local area education agency (AEA). Teachout received the forms and mailed the completed report to the AEA on November 18. It was later returned because it had not been completed correctly.

On November 20, Hinkley called Teachout and asked her to resign. He told her he had been unable to locate any other available position in the District. Teachout refused to resign and requested a meeting with the District's superintendent, Wayne Sesker. There is no evidence that Fitzgerald, Hinkley, or Sesker knew Teachout had contacted DHS about her allegations of abuse, or that she had forwarded a written report to the AEA.

Teachout met with Sesker the next day, November 21, and told him about her concerns of abuse. Sesker discussed the classroom situation with her and told her to meet with Hinkley on November 27, the next work day, instead of reporting to Fitzgerald. Teachout asked Sesker if he had the forms for reporting child abuse. When he was unable to locate any, he directed her to Hinkley. Hinkley was also unable to find the requested forms. Teachout then obtained the forms from DHS and immediately made proper written reports of the alleged abuse.

When Teachout returned to school on November 27 after Thanksgiving break, Hinkley gave her a letter of termination. After her discharge as a teaching assistant in the severely and profoundly disabled classroom, Teachout remained employed by the District as a cheerleading coach and bus driver.

The District was unaware of Teachout's official reports of child abuse until the day following her termination. The abuse reports were eventually determined to be unfounded.

III. Prior Proceedings.

Teachout sued the District claiming that her termination was wrongful because it violated public policy. ¹ The district court granted the District's motion for summary judgment. Although the court concluded that Teachout had engaged in a protected activity, it found she had failed as a matter of law to establish a causal connection between her termination and her protected conduct. Teachout appealed.

IV. General Legal Principles Governing Teachout's Wrongful Discharge Claim.

The parties agree that Teachout is an employee at will. Even an employee at will, however, may not be terminated for a reason contrary to public policy. See Lockhart v. Cedar Rapids Community Sch. Dist., 577 N.W.2d 845, 846 (Iowa 1998). When an employee is terminated for a reason that violates a well-established public policy, the employee has a remedy for damages. See Springer v. Weeks & Leo Co., 429 N.W.2d 558, 559-60 (Iowa 1988).

To recover damages under these circumstances, a plaintiff must establish (1) engagement in a protected activity, (2) adverse employment action, and (3) a causal connection between the two. Cf. Hulme v. Barrett, 480 N.W.2d 40, 42 (Iowa 1992) (discussing prima facie case for statutory retaliatory discharge claim under Iowa's civil rights law). There is no dispute that Teachout suffered an adverse employment decision--her termination as a teacher's assistant. The controversy in this case is whether there is evidence to support a finding that Teachout engaged in a protected activity and whether this activity was causally linked to her discharge. We address these issues separately.

V. Involvement in a Protected Activity.

A. Reporting of child abuse as a protected activity. There need not be an express statutory mandate of protection before an employee's conduct is shielded from adverse employment action. See Borschel v. City of Perry, 512 N.W.2d 565, 568 (Iowa 1994). Nevertheless, the employee's activity must advance a well-recognized and defined public policy of the state. See French v. Foods, Inc., 495 N.W.2d 768, 770 (Iowa 1993).

We have found such a public policy expressed in certain legislative enactments. Thus, a cause of action has been recognized when an employee is terminated in retaliation for asserting a right to workers' compensation benefits. See Niblo v. Parr Mfg., Inc., 445 N.W.2d 351, 353 (Iowa 1989); Springer, 429 N.W.2d at 560. We have also held that a discharge in retaliation for filing a claim for partial unemployment benefits is actionable. See Lara v. Thomas, 512 N.W.2d 777, 782 (Iowa 1994). In determining whether the reporting of suspected child abuse is likewise protected, it is helpful to understand the basis for our recognition of a common-law retaliatory discharge claim in the cited cases.

In Springer, this court concluded that the workers' compensation statute clearly expressed "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." 429 N.W.2d at 560-61. This holding was based on Iowa Code section 85.18 (1987), which provided that " '[n]o contract, rule, or device whatsoever shall operate to relieve the...