Wash. Court of Appeals published opinion — 341038_pub.pdf

Citation: Wash. Court of Appeals published opinion — 341038_pub.pdf
Jurisdiction: Washington (state)
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For the current opinion, go to https://www.lexisnexis.com/clients/wareports/.

No. 34103-8-111
Martin v. Gonzaga University

We hold that insubordination is a qualifying justification for purposes of element

four of the tort of wrongful discharge in violation of public policy. We also conclude that

the undisputed facts establish insubordination by David Martin.

We move to the fifth question of whether the justification must supersede the

unlawful reason for the firing in importance under the law or under public policy in order

to succeed as an overriding justification. To repeat, this fifth question asks if the court

measures and weighs the policy strength between the overriding justification and the

violation of the public policy. We answer in the affirmative.

We observe that the overriding justification may not be insubordination by

refusing to obey an order to engage in unlawful conduct, since the employer should not

have given the order. Lins v. Children's Discovery Centers ofAmerica, Inc., 95 Wn.

App. 486,494, 976 P.2d 168 (1999). For example, Gonzaga University could not claim

an alternative justification if it fired David Martin for disobeying an order to hush with

regard to a safety hazard. But David Martin's insubordination went further.

The "absence of justification" element examines whether the employer has an

overriding reason for terminating the employee despite the employee's public-policy-

linked conduct. Gardner v. Loomis Armored, Inc., 128 Wn.2d at 947 (1996). In the lay

dictionary, "overriding" means "[m]ore important than any other considerations."

45
For the current opinion, go to https://www.lexisnexis.com/clients/wareports/.

No. 34103-8-111
Martin v. Gonzaga University

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