Zweig v. Marvelwood School

Excerpt

The plaintiff sought to recover damages from the defendant for, inter alia, his allegedly wrongful discharge from employment. The trial court granted the defendant's motion for summary judgment and rendered judgment thereon, from which the plaintiff appealed to this court. The plaintiff asserted that genuine issues of material fact existed as to whether the defendant's termination of his employment violated public policy for the protection of children. The plaintiff was employed by the defendant independent school as a history teacher and he also served as the defendant's Director of Food Studies, a role that required him to establish and maintain a garden on campus and use it to teach a class on food studies. In May, 2015, the plaintiff objected to the defendant's suggestion that telephone poles that had been treated with creosote, a pesticide and wood preservative, be used to make raised beds in the garden because he believed that the chemical posed a health risk to himself and his students. Following the dispute, the plaintiff was relieved of his duties relating to the garden but remained employed as a teacher at the school, entering into at-will employment agreements with the defendant in July, 2015, and April, 2016. In September, 2016, the plaintiff's employment was terminated. Held that the trial court properly granted the defendant's motion for summary judgment because no genuine issue of material fact existed as to whether the plaintiff set forth a valid wrongful discharge claim: the plaintiff failed to demonstrate that his dismissal occurred for a reason that violated public policy because it did not violate any explicit statutory or constitutional provision, as there were no state or federal regulations prohibiting the use of creosote- treated wood, and it did not violate any judicially conceived notion of public policy, as, although the courts may have recognized a public policy of protecting children in their prior interpretations of child protection sta