Brandi's Hope Community Services, LLC, Wanda Keith and Danny O. Cowart v. Heather Denice Walters

Summary

The court held that the statutory protections for employees who report abuse of vulnerable persons do not conflict with the existing public-policy exception for reporting illegal acts. Walters could therefore pursue a wrongful-termination claim under the common-law exception even though she did not comply with the statute’s specified reporting procedures, and the evidence supported the jury’s finding that she was fired for reporting abuse. The court declined to decide the health-privacy question and left the judgment favoring Cowart on the interference claim undisturbed.