Opinion ID: 1235380
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Involvement in a Protected Activity.

Text: A. Reporting of child abuse as a protected activity. There need not be an express statutory mandate of protection before an employee's conduct is shielded from adverse employment action. See Borschel v. City of Perry, 512 N.W.2d 565, 568 (Iowa 1994). Nevertheless, the employee's activity must advance a well-recognized and defined public policy of the state. See French v. Foods, Inc., 495 N.W.2d 768, 770 (Iowa 1993). We have found such a public policy expressed in certain legislative enactments. Thus, a cause of action has been recognized when an employee is terminated in retaliation for asserting a right to workers' compensation benefits. See Niblo v. Parr Mfg., Inc., 445 N.W.2d 351, 353 (Iowa 1989); Springer, 429 N.W.2d at 560. We have also held that a discharge in retaliation for filing a claim for partial unemployment benefits is actionable. See Lara v. Thomas, 512 N.W.2d 777, 782 (Iowa 1994). In determining whether the reporting of suspected child abuse is likewise protected, it is helpful to understand the basis for our recognition of a common-law retaliatory discharge claim in the cited cases. In Springer, this court concluded that the workers' compensation statute clearly expressed the public policy of this state that an employee's right to seek the compensation which is granted by law for work-related injuries should not be interfered with regardless of the terms of the contract of hire. 429 N.W.2d at 560-61. This holding was based on Iowa Code section 85.18 (1987), which provided that `[n]o contract, rule, or device whatsoever shall operate to relieve the employer, in whole or in part, from any liability created by this chapter except as herein provided.' Id. at 560 (quoting Iowa Code § 85.18 (1987)). We observed that to permit the retaliatory discharge alleged in Springer would fly in the face of this policy. Id. at 561. In Lara, we found an equally clear expression of public policy in the unemployment compensation law. We noted the legislature's declaration that `[e]conomic insecurity due to unemployment is a serious menace to the health, morals, and welfare of the people of this state.' Lara, 512 N.W.2d at 782 (quoting Iowa Code § 96.2 (1989)). The unemployment compensation statute additionally provided that `[a]ny agreement by an individual to waive, release, or commute the individual's rights to benefits or any other rights under this chapter shall be void.' Id. (quoting Iowa Code § 96.15(1) (1989)). Finally the legislature made it a serious misdemeanor for any employer to violate this provision of the statute. Id. We concluded an employer's retaliatory discharge of an employee seeking partial unemployment benefits conflicted with these legislatively-declared goals. Id. We turn now to an examination of our child abuse laws. Our legislature has enacted a statute for the reporting and investigation of suspected cases of child abuse. See Iowa Code §§ 232.67-.77 (1995). The general assembly has determined that [c]hildren in this state are in urgent need of protection from abuse. It is the purpose and policy of this [statute] to provide the greatest possible protection to victims or potential victims of abuse through encouraging the increased reporting of suspected cases of such abuse, insuring the thorough and prompt investigation of these reports.... Id. § 232.67. In addition, the Iowa Code provides that [a] person participating in good faith in the making of a report ... pursuant to this chapter ... shall have immunity from any liability, civil or criminal, which might otherwise be incurred or imposed.... Id. § 232.73. Furthermore, any person, official, agency or institution required by this chapter to report a suspected case of child abuse who knowingly and willfully fails to do so is guilty of a simple misdemeanor. Id. § 232.75. Although chapter 232 does not specifically mandate protection for an employee who in good faith makes a report of suspected child abuse, we think the forceful language of the statute articulates a well-recognized and defined public policy of Iowa from which such protection can be implied. See McQuary v. Bel Air Convalescent Home, Inc., 69 Or.App. 107, 684 P.2d 21, 23 (1984) (recognizing wrongful discharge claim where employee is fired for threatening to report to appropriate state agency employee's good-faith belief that employer nursing home was mistreating patients). B. Factual issue as to whether Teachout engaged in a protected activity. There is evidence in the record from which a fact finder could conclude that Teachout had contacted the proper authorities to make oral and written reports of child abuse prior to her termination. See generally Iowa Code § 232.70(1) (allowing permissive reporter to report abuse either orally or in writing). Because the record may not support a finding that the District knew, before it discharged Teachout, that she had reported the suspected abuse, we must also consider whether Teachout's intent to report child abuse could constitute protected activity so as to support a claim of retaliatory discharge. See Dey v. Colt Constr. & Dev. Co., 28 F.3d 1446, 1458 (7th Cir.1994) (stating a causal link between a protected activity and an adverse employment action cannot be found if the employer had no knowledge of the protected activity). We think a finding by the jury that Teachout had a good-faith intent to file a report would constitute protected activity. See Niblo, 445 N.W.2d at 351 (holding a cause of action for wrongful discharge existed upon proof that the employee was terminated for threatening to file a workers' compensation claim). It would be contrary to the public policy articulated in our child abuse laws to allow an employer to take adverse employment action on the basis of an employee's intent to report child abuse. That is because the employer's action would have the effect of discouraging the reporting of suspected abuse in direct opposition to the public policy of encouraging the reporting of child abuse. Consequently, if Teachout had a subjective good-faith belief that child abuse had occurred, she is protected from any retaliatory action by her employer causally related to her intent or threat to report the abuse. Cf. Garvis v. Scholten, 492 N.W.2d 402, 404 (Iowa 1992) (interpreting statutory tort immunity for improper disclosure of medical information pursuant to a child abuse investigation as requiring a subjectively good-faith participation in the investigation). The District argues, however, that Teachout's failure to immediately report her suspicions of abuse to the proper authorities takes her conduct out of a protected category. It contends that Teachout's conduct should not be protected because it is contrary to the legislature's intent that child abuse be reported promptly. Despite the general assembly's obvious desire to encourage prompt reporting, we think an employee's delay in making a report of abuse does not operate to deny her a remedy for a retaliatory discharge. The negative impact on the accomplishment of the statutory objectives that would result from denying protection to the employee outweighs the nominal inconsistency in granting protection to the dilatory reporter. Because there are facts in the record from which a fact finder could conclude that Teachout had a good-faith belief that child abuse had occurred in her classroom, her intent to report the abuse is protected even if she did not make a child abuse report promptly and even if she did not officially report the abuse prior to her termination of employment. Therefore, the district court properly ruled that a factual issue existed as to this element of Teachout's wrongful discharge claim. We now consider whether the district court correctly concluded that Teachout had not demonstrated a factual issue on the causation element of her claim.