Opinion ID: 1763698
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: Public-Policy Violation

Text: PVI next asserts that Fleshner failed to make a submissible case because she did not present any evidence that she engaged in an activity protected by Missouri public policy. Because Fleshner spoke with a federal investigator rather than a state investigator, PVI claims that Missouri's minimum wage law, sections 290.500 to 290.530, is inapplicable to Fleshner. It argues that Fleshner cannot rely on the minimum wage law as the basis for her public policy claim because her activity was not protected by that law. PVI contends that the minimum wage law reflects the public policy of encouraging employees to speak with state, not federal, investigators without fear of being discharged. Essentially, PVI argues that to bring a wrongful discharge claim based on the public-policy exception, Fleshner must rely on a direct violation of a statute that retaliation against her violated. The minimum wage law regulates the payment of overtime compensation. Section 290.505. The law also gives state officials the authority to investigate employers for their failure to pay overtime compensation. Section 290.510. Any employer who discharges an employee who has notified the appropriate state officials that the employer failed to pay overtime compensation, who has instituted proceedings against the employer seeking overtime compensation, or who has testified or will testify against the employer regarding overtime compensation is guilty of a class C misdemeanor. Section 290.525(7). PVI's view of the reach of the public-policy exception is too narrow. Public policy is not to be determined by the varying personal opinions and whims of judges or courts . . . as to what they themselves believe to be the demands or interests of the public. In re Rahn's Estate, 316 Mo. 492, 291 S.W. 120, 123 (1926). Instead, public policy must be found in a constitutional provision, a statute, regulation promulgated pursuant to statute, or a rule created by a governmental body. See Johnson, 745 S.W.2d at 663. But as found in Kirk v. Mercy Hospital Tri-County, a plaintiff need not rely on an employer's direct violation of a statute or regulation. 851 S.W.2d 617, 621 (Mo.App.1993). Instead, the public policy must be reflected by a constitutional provision, statute, regulation promulgated pursuant to statute, or a rule created by a governmental body. See id. at 621-22. Moreover, there is no requirement that the violation that the employee reports affect the employee personally, nor that the law violated prohibit or penalize retaliation against those reporting its violation. See, e.g., Porter, 962 S.W.2d at 938-39 (recognizing that one can make a claim under the public-policy exception not just where the statute or regulation specifically prohibits retaliation but also in other cases where the employee reports a violation or refuses to violate a clear mandate of public policy as reflected in a statute or regulation). The public policy reflected by the minimum wage law is that employees should be encouraged to communicate with government labor investigators about their employers' overtime compensation without fear of retaliation. While a prosecution for violation of the law requires communication with state government labor investigators, a suit for wrongful termination is not so constrained. The public policy expressed by the statute covers communications made to federal or state officials or to the employee's superiors. [13] The disclosure here came well within these parameters. The trial court did not err in overruling PVI's motions for directed verdict and JNOV on the ground that public policy reflected in the minimum wage law did not extend to communications with federal investigators.