Online Testing

Welcome to the E-Precinct v2.0!  Our concept of offering an online management’s rights center over a year and a half ago caught on and glad so many of our subscribers have found it useful.  The concept has been expanded now with this new site and new domain separate from our long standing VMANET.COM which made its debut in the fall of 1996. 

We hope that you find this new layout and site an improvement over the previous version and we always welcome suggestions on how to make it better.  Look for content additions regularly as we transition our company over the next couple of years to an online service.

Cordially,

Mark Van Meter
Chief Information Officer

This case is instructive concerning the burden courts place on employees who claim wrongful termination.

A company controller who alleged that she was fired because she refused to participate in her employer’s tax fraud scheme could not sue for wrongful discharge in violation of public policy, a Kentucky appeals court ruled. The employee’s failure to show that her employer affirmatively asked her to violate the law, or that she was terminated for her refusal to do so, was fatal to her claim, the court concluded.

Believing that the company president was engaged in tax evasion, tax fraud, and fraud on the company books when he deposited certain rebate checks into his personal bank account, the employee refused to sign off on her employer’s financial documents. She was ultimately terminated for incompetence upon the recommendation of an outside consultant. Although the employee argued that the hiring of the consultant was a pretext for firing her, the court noted that the employee never personally received or handled the rebate checks. Nor was she ever told that her job would be jeopardized if she did not go along with the alleged scheme.

Most importantly, there was no evidence that the employee was ever asked or directed by her superiors to engage in illegal activities. “Lest there be any confusion or doubt,” the court stated, “we hold an employee claiming wrongful discharge due to a refusal to violate the law must show an affirmative request to him/her by the employer to violate the law” ( Welsh v Phoenix Transportation Services, LLC, KyCtApp, August 14, 2009).