Wrongful termination can occur for many reasons and one reason is an employee’s refusal to perform certain work-related duties. Many employees refuse to perform certain duties because the duties could affect a licensure the employee holds for a particular line of work. Missouri laws can protect employees who have been wrongfully terminated for failure to perform duties that may violate the employee’s licensure.
Former employees of a funeral home have filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against their former employer. The former employer is a funeral home in Missouri. Funeral service is an industry that is highly regulated and requires employees to have current licensure to perform certain duties within in the industry. The two former employees were terminated for objecting to practice without the proper license, and the former employer stated their position had been eliminated. In fact, the former employee’s positions were later advertised as open positions.
In the wrongful termination lawsuit, the former employees claimed they were terminated because they reported their former employer for the licensure violation. The former employees claim they complained that the employer was preparing bodies without a license, operating a funeral home without a license and requested that they too perform duties that violated their funeral licensure. The wrongful termination lawsuit remains pending.
Licensure for specific areas can be difficult and expensive to obtain. When an employee has achieved a licensure, it is usually in the employee’s best interest to retain the rights afforded by the licensure. If an employee violates the authority of the licensure, the employee may be liable for the actual actions and potentially defending their licensure. An experienced attorney can help an employee, who was terminated for not violating his or her professional license, seek wrongful termination compensation.
Source: Columbia Daily Tribune, “Lawsuit alleges Harold Warren still prepping bodies,” Janese Silvey, June 1, 2012
