Entries Tagged as 'Public policy tort'

Sunday, November 11th, 2007

Alaska Supreme Court: Willard v. Khotol Services Corp.

Court addresses NLRA pre-emption, good faith claims, misrepresentation, and probationary status
The Supreme Court issued an important employment opinion this past Friday.  The Court unanimously (per Bryner, with Eastaugh not participating) upheld some, but not all summary judgment rulings by Anchorage Superior Court Judge Mark Rindner. 
Plaintiff Willard claimed that Khotol Services Corporation had breached his employment contract, breached the […]

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Filed under Good faith covenant, Internal investigations, Fraud, Retaliation, Public policy tort, Whistleblowers

Thursday, October 25th, 2007

DAlaska: Johnson v. Fred Meyer Update

Judge Beistline certifies issue of public policy tort to the Alaska Supreme Court
In this case, reported earlier, Judge Beistline has certified the following  question to the Alaska Supreme Court:
Does an at-will employee have a tort public policy claim under Alaska’s implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing when an employer discharges that employee in order […]

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Filed under Good faith covenant, Public policy tort

Friday, October 12th, 2007

Johnson v. Fred Meyers Stores: Plaintiff’s Counsel Responds

Mark Choate here responds to Judge Beistline’s Order dismissing his client’s Public Policy claim 
Choate writes:
I read with interest the comment [Ed.: found here] pointing to Muller v. BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc., 923 P.2d 783 (Alaska 1996), as it provides some pretty good insight as to how the Supreme Court, at least a decade ago, dealt […]

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Filed under Public policy tort

Monday, October 8th, 2007

DAlaska Reverses Itself and Holds that Public Policy Claim Must Be Premised on “Explicit” Public Policy

Judge Beistline Certifies “Sweetie” Issue to the Alaska Supreme Court; A Comment
As earlier reported on this site, Judge Ralph Beistline on October 1st held that a dismissed employee need not identify “a clear mandate of public policy” as a predicate to a tort public policy claim or to an implied covenant contract claim based on a violation of public […]

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Filed under Public policy tort

Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007

Rulings in “Sweetie” Case in DAlaska

The plaintiff in Johnson v. Fred Meyer Stores, Inc. claims that her supervisor replaced her with [CORRECTION] a woman toward whom he had romantic feelings.  Her various statutory claims (age, FMLA, etc.) have been dismissed or withdrawn (Docket # 81, 02/09/07), leaving only a common law count for breach of the implied covenant of good […]

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Filed under Good faith covenant, Evidence, Public policy tort

Thursday, September 13th, 2007

Lie Detector Tests in Alaska

Both federal and Alaska law govern an employer’s use of lie detector (polygraph) tests.  The federal law specifically permits a more restrictive state law.  29 USC § 2009.  Alaska does have a polygraph law, and one that, in fact, offers more protection to  employees than does the federal law.
The federal Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA) bars private sector […]

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Filed under Private right of action, Lie detector tests, Public policy tort