Iowa Workers' Compensation

In Pharaoh-Carlson v. Hy-Vee, Inc.,  No. 13-1446 (Iowa App. Feb. 11, 2015), plaintiff alleged that the jury instruction provided by the district court misstated the law regarding the workers' compensation public policy exception to the at-will employment doctrine.  Plaintiff argued that he was discharged for filing a workers' compensation claim while defendant argued that the discharge was due to a no-call, no show on the part of plaintiff. The court first noted that plaintiff had waived its objection to the jury instruction because the objection to the instruction, although made by plaintiff, was insufficiently specific.  Despite this finding, the court went on to address the merits of the decision.  The instruction to the jury, among other things, indicated that employment at will employees could be discharged for any reason, that it is against public policy to discharge workers for pursuing their right under the workers' compensation act, and indicated it was no...

The Iowa Supreme Court declined to create a public policy exception to the general rule of at will employment in Berry v. Liberty Holdings , No. 10-0094 (Iowa Sept. 9, 2011).  Berry involved an employee who was injured when a concrete pumper truck struck and injured him while he was on his way home from work.  Plaintiff worked for Liberty Holdings and the truck which struck him was owned by Premier.  Berry filed suit against Premier and settled the case within the policy limits.  Nine months after the settlement, he was fired by Liberty. Plaintiff alleged that in filing his claim against Premier, he was engaged in a protected activity, and he brought a wrongful termination suit against Liberty.  Liberty filed a motion to dismiss, indicating there was no clearly defined public policy right that was violated by the termination.  The district court granted the motion to dismiss, but this action was reversed by the court of appeals, and the claim was remanded...

On April 16, 2010, the Supreme Court issued a decision in Ballalatak v. All Iowa Agriculture Association , 2010 WL 1507635, No. 08-1588 (Iowa April 16, 2010) http://www.iowacourts.gov/Supreme_Court/Recent_Opinions/20100416/08-1588.pdf . Ballalatak involved a supervisor who was fired for advocating to two injured workers that they hire an attorney to ensure they received workers' compensation benefits. The district court held that even if the supervisor was fired for attempting to help the injured workers receive workers' compensation benefits, plaintiff failed to state a claim because there was no public policy that protected supervisors or coemployees from termination for aiding injured employees in collecting workers' compensation benefits. In affirming the decision of the district court, the Supreme Court noted that employers may generally fire an at-will employee at any time. In order for the public policy exception to the at-will rule to apply, said the court, the...