EMPLOYEE IN WRONGFUL DISCHARGE CLAIM MUST DEMONSTRATE THAT PUBLIC POLICY TRUMPS EMPLOYMENT AT WILL
Plaintiff’s wrongful discharge claim was unsustainable as a matter of law where plaintiff, an at-will employee at defendant’s nursing facility, failed to demonstrate that her discharge implicated a clear commonwealth public policy. The court granted defendants’ motion for summary judgment.
Defendant HCF Management operates nursing homes in Ohio and Pennsylvania, including Bradford Manor, a 115-bed skilled nursing facility in Bradford, Pennsylvania. Bradford Manor is subject to the minimum staffing requirements of 28 Pa. Code 211.12(i), which requires such facilities to average at least 2.7 hours of general nursing care for each of its residence during any 24-hour period. Plaintiff worked as an administrator for Bradford Manor. She filed this lawsuit against HCF and related parties after being terminated from the position, which she held for roughly a year. Here, the district court considered defendants’ motion for summary judgment. Under Pennsylvania law, employment is generally at-will, i.e. employers are free to terminated employees with or without cause, at pleasure, unless restrained by some contract, the court explained. A limited exception exists where an individual’s discharge implicates a clear commonwealth public policy. The public policy must be expressly recognized in legislation, administrative regulations or decisions, or judicial decision. In order to prevail on such a claim, the plaintiff must do more than show a possible violation that implicates only her own personal interest. Rather, she must demonstrate that a state public policy is implicated, undermined or violated because of the termination. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has articulated three limited circumstances in which public policy will trump employment at will, according to the opinion. Specifically, an employer cannot require an employee to commit a crime and fire that employee for refusing to do so, cannot prevent an employee from complying with a statutorily imposed duty and cannot discharge an employee where specifically prohibited from doing so by statute. The court considered these exceptions and found that none applied to plaintiff’s case. The evidence failed to support an inference that HCF prevented plaintiff from complying with a statutorily imposed duty. Bradford Manor was subject to 28 Pa. Code 211.12(i), which mandates a minimum ration of general nursing care hours at such skilled nursing facilities. There was no evidence that HCF ever instructed or otherwise required plaintiff to violate the regulation. In fact, the evidence established that plaintiff was expected at all time to ensure the facility’s compliance with the regulatory staffing requirements, the court empathized. The opinion cited evidence that HCF authorized plaintiff to call staff members in on weekends and to offer “call-in pay” as an incentive for staff to pick up extra weekend hours. At most, plaintiff’s assertion that violations were certain to occur reflected her own subjective judgment about HCF’s ability to comply with the regulatory staffing requirements while increasing the facility’s census requirements, the court reasoned. However, the U.S. Court of appeal for the Third Circuit has predicted that “Pennsylvania will not recognize a wrongful discharge claim when an at-will employee’s discharge is based on a disagreement with management about the legality of a proposed course of action unless the action the employer wants to take actually violates the law,” citing Clark v. Modern Grp. Ltd. Thus, plaintiff’s claim was unsustainable as a matter of law.
Ref: Digests of Recent Opinions, Pennsylvania Law Weekly, 43 PLW 91, Tuesday, January 28, 2020, Adams v. HCF Mgmt., PICS Case No. 20-0070 (W.D. Jan. 10,2020)
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