What is "Wrongful Discharge" in Ohio?

Many of our clients are outraged by the way in which their employers callously disregard their employees in dismissing them without cause because Ohio's "employment-at-will" law allows them to do just that. (See "General Information" section for more details on "employment-at-will" in Ohio.)

A select number of our clients are able to take advantage of the claim of "wrongful discharge." In Ohio, an employer who exercises rights under the "employment-at-will" doctrine nevertheless can be held liable for a "wrongful discharge" if the employer's conduct in discharging its "at-will" employee effectively amounts to a violation of some federal or state law or regulation spelling out an important public policy in this state.

The classic example is the case of the divorced employee who was ordered to pay child support and to have his wages garnished to cover that obligation. When the garnishment order was received, the employer decided to fire the "at-will" employee instead of incurring the costs of having to garnish wages and pay them over to the court. The Ohio Supreme Court ruled that such an "at-will" employee cannot be fired under these circumstances because the public's interest in an efficient and effective child support system cannot be undermined by the act of an employer in firing an "at-will" employee who has to have his wages garnished as the court's way of making sure the child support payments were made.

An experienced employee rights attorney can evaluate your circumstances against this principle of Ohio law and let you know whether your claim might qualify for protection, too.