Flenker v. Willamette Industries, Inc.

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Six, J.:

The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has certified the following question to this court under K.S.A. 60-3201:

“Does the remedy provided by OSHA § 11(c) [29 U.S.C. § 660(c) (1994)] for employees who allege that they have been discharged in retaliation for filing complaints under that statute preclude the filing of a Kansas common law wrongful discharge claim under Kansas’s public policy exception to at-will employment?”

The answer is, “no.”

This case arises out of the March 11, 1994, firing of David Flenker, a worker at…