McAfee & Taft labor and employment attorney Sam Fulkerson was featured in The Oklahoman discussing the loss of “wrongful termination” protection under Oklahoma law for employers with fewer than 15 employees. The small employer exemption almost universally exempted smaller employers from liability and, according to Fulkerson, was a “pragmatic balancing of civil rights policy against economic policy.”
When discussing what happened to the small employer exemption, Fulkerson told The Oklahoman, “in a recent race discrimination case, the Oklahoma Supreme Court decided that even though there is a statute enacted by the legislature that prohibits race discrimination, but limits such claims to Oklahoma employers with 15 or more employees, there also is an independent common law remedy for employment discrimination – wrongful termination claims – which does not similarly limit those types of claims.” In short, small employers may not by subject to statutory claims but are no longer excluded from liability under common law.
Fulkerson’s advice to small employers: “Learn the law, if they haven’t already; implement policies prohibiting discrimination and harassment; train their employees; and follow their policies.”
You can read the entire article here.