Young v. Station 27, Inc.

Plaintiff Kim Young was injured, sought workers' compensation benefits, and approximately thirteen months later her employment was terminated. Plaintiff sued, alleging she had been terminated from employment in retaliation for her workers' compensation claim. Further, she alleged her termination violated public policy and she possessed a tort claim pursuant to Burk v. K-Mart Corp., which entitled her to a jury trial in District Court. She alleged 85A O.S.Supp.2013 section 7 of the Administrative Workers' Compensation Act denied her a jury trial and violated Article 2 section19 of the Oklahoma Constitution. After review, the Oklahoma Supreme Court held plaintiff's retaliatory discharge action was not a “Burk” tort, but a statutory action based upon 85 O.S.2011 section 341, which was the retaliatory discharge statute in effect when her workers' compensation injury occurred. Adjudicating the appeal did not require determining whether 85A O.S. sec. 7 violated Okla. Const. Art. 2 sec. 19; the Court’s analysis assumed 85A O.S. 7 was constitutional and thereby expressed a statutory continuation of Oklahoma's long-recognized public policy creating an exception to the employment-at-will doctrine by condemning an employer's conduct taken to retaliate for an employee's statutorily-protected actions related to a workers' compensation claim. The Court also concluded plaintiff's section 341 retaliation claim did not violate 85A O.S.Supp.2013 sec. 7. View "Young v. Station 27, Inc." on Justia Law