Iowa Workers' Compensation

Plaintiff in Wusk v Evangelical Retirement Homes , No. 15-0166 (Iowa App. Dec. 23, 2015) asserted that she was wrongfully terminated from employment as a result of pursuing a workers' compensation claim.  The district court ruled in the employer's favor on summary judgment and the Court of Appeals affirmed. Plaintiff suffered a work related injury to her arm and pursued a workers' compensation claim.  On November 5, 2012, claimant was released from all restrictions and was cleared for regular duty work. Claimant called and left a message for her supervisor about this, and her supervisor called back within a day and left a message for claimant.  After this, claimant did not speak to anyone with the employer.  Her workers' compensation claim was settled on July 9, 2013.  Claimant was terminated in August of 2013, because she had not scheduled any hours and had not followed the terms of the pool agreement.  Claimant indicated she contacted the nursing home...

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...