On Tuesday (04/07/08), the Missouri Senate debated Senate Bill 1046, legislation sponsored by Sen. Robert Mayer, R-Dexter, that would codify the employment-at-will doctrine,
which is among Associated Industries of Missouri’s legislative
priorities. AIM worked closely with Sen. Mayer in 2006 and 2007, when
he introduced similar bills but was unable to push past opposition in
the minority party.
Missouri’s
employment-at-will doctrine has public policy exception that recognizes
an employee may not be terminated because the employee:
- Was a whistle-blower, meaning the employee reported unlawful conduct by the employer.
- Refused to perform an act at the request of the employer that, if proven, would have been illegal.
Recent court decisions, however, altered that definition.
In
two cases, the Eastern District Appellate Court of Missouri found that
“it was unnecessary for an employee to ‘allege or prove conclusively
the law has been violated in order to state a cause of action’ when the
employee held a reasonable belief illegal conduct or conduct against a
clear mandate of public policy has occurred.”
These rulings protect employees who merely believe that the company may in the future commit an act that may or may not be illegal. Prior court decisions required employees to prove past illegal conduct by the employer.
“These court
decisions mean a discharged at-will employee need not prove any
wrongdoing by his or her employer in order to receive whistle-blower
protection in this state,” said Gary Marble, president of Associated
Industries.
Under the
provisions of SB 1046, evidence of wrong-doing on the part of an
employer would be required before an employee could receive
whistleblower protection. It also would require evidence that any act
which the employee refused to conduct would have violated the law.
“Sen. Mayer’s bill would return the employment-at-will law to its original purpose,” Marble said.
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