Court Rejected Former Employee's Retaliatory Discharge and Whistleblower Claims
In Maxson v. City of Chenoa, an Illinois Appellate Court rejected whistleblower and retaliation claims brought by a former city employee against the City after his position was terminated.
On January 8, 2018, the city council voted to terminate a superintendent’s position in connection with a water main break on Grant Street. The city council based its decision on its position that the employee had ignored the situation and disregarded his duties. The former employee appealed his termination and was given the opportunity to have a hearing before the city council and call witnesses on his behalf. Following the hearing, the city council upheld the termination by a vote of 4 to 1.
The former employee then filed this lawsuit alleging violations the Whistleblower Act and retaliatory discharge. He claimed he became aware of unethical or illegal acts committed by the City's mayor involving use of public funds. The trial court held that the former employee did not offer sufficient facts to support his allegations of unethical acts and did not raise any complaints with any governmental or law enforcement agency, and the former employee appealed.
To establish a claim under the State of Illinois' Whistleblower Act, an employee must show: an adverse employment action by their employer that was in retaliation for the employee’s disclosure to a government or law enforcement agency of a suspected violation of law. A recent federal district court opinion also provides that an employee must show that the employer was aware of the employee’s disclosures of their illegal conduct to an enforcement agency.
On appeal, the Illinois Appellate Court held that the former employee's claim failed because he could not prove that the city council (1) knew of his disclosures of his whistleblowing, and (3) that he was fired because of it. Further, there was no evidence in this case that the mayor had any hand in the former employee's termination. Finally, the Court determined that the former employee failed to show evidence of a causal relationship between his activities—his reports of, or complaints about alleged unethical or illegal activities—and his discharge from employment, a necessary element of his common-law retaliatory discharge claim.
Post Authored by Alexis Carter & Julie Tappendorf
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