The Minnesota Supreme Court has now ruled that certain claims under the Minnesota Whistleblower Act (MWA) can be brought for up to six years after the fact instead of just two.
The MWA protects employees from retaliation for engaging in a variety of whistleblowing activities such as participating in a government investigation or refusing to engage in illegal behavior. In the case of Ford v. Minneapolis Public Schools , the employee claimed she was fired for reporting suspected legal violations committed by her employer. However, she waited more than two years before filing her lawsuit.
The Supreme Court explained that a two-year statute of limitations (the time permitted to bring a lawsuit) exists for claims that have been “historically recognized”, otherwise known as “common law claims.” Minnesota recognized a common law claim for wrongful discharge in 1987 in Phipps v. Clark Oil, which involved a service station attendant who was fired after refusing his employer’s directive to illegally pump leaded gasoline into a customer’s car that required unleaded gas. Since the MWA also encompasses this common law claim within its statutory protections for whistleblowers, it could be argued that the two-year statute of limitations for common law claims also should apply to claims brought under that statute.
However, the court observed that the MWA protects other forms of employee behavior as well, including reporting an employer’s illegal behavior. Since Minnesota has never recognized a common law action for wrongful discharge on that basis, and since it exists only because the MWA created it, this sort of claim is not “historically recognized.” As such, Minnesota’s six-year statute of limitations for liabilities “created by statute” must apply rather than the two-year period for common law claims.
Bottom Line
This is an odd decision because it potentially creates two different filing periods for claims under the same statute. Lawsuits involving employee refusals to engage in illegal behavior would have to be brought within two years while all other claims under the MWA would be subject to a six-year filing period. It also is a troublesome decision since it extends the period of time in which lawsuits can be brought and therefore also the time in which records should be kept, memories have to be retained and uncertainty must be endured.
For more information, please contact Grant Collins at gcollins@felhaber.com.