Court Opinion

ID: 9717108
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 06:58:23.847787+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:51.306152
License: Public Domain

DeBRULER, Justice,
dissenting.
The right of workers to access to courts to recover wages due from employers for work done is not only statutory in the sense that it is recognized by statute, but it is statutory also in the sense that it is given a special protected status. It is this special protected status which elevates this right to that level at which it is every bit the equivalent of the right of injured workers to access to the workmen's compensation board, and should compel this court to declare that discharge for exercising it constitutes the separate wrong of retaliatory discharge. Frampton v. Central Indiana Gas Co. (1973), 260 Ind. 249, 297 N.E.2d 425.
This special protected status stems from 1.C. 22-2-4-4 which provides that a breach of the legal duty to pay wages by employer results in an exposure to daily penalties, payment of attorney fees, and collection without relief. The special concern for this right can also be seen in 1.0. 22-2-4-1 which declares that contracts for less than regular, expeditious payment of wages are void. This special status has roots in our recent history and in the ever present temptation to withhold wages to discipline. This is a bread and butter issue like the one considered in Frampton and should receive like treatment. I would return this case for trial upon alternative claims of breach of contract and retaliatory discharge.