Supreme Court of Oklahoma

HO v. TULSA SPINE & SPECIALTY HOSPITAL

2021 OK 68, 119752Decided 12/14/2021

¶0 The appellant, Kristi Ho, a nurse, sued her employer, the appellee, Tulsa Spine & Specialty Hosptial, L.L.C., alleging that the Hospital fired her because she would not come to work. She refused to go to work because of concern for her health and safety. She alleged the Hospital violated the Governor’s directive to discontinue elective surgeries for a short time during a COVID-19 pandemic, and it did so without providing her proper personal protective equipment. The Hospital filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that the nurse was an employee-at-will, and that she failed to state a claim for wrongful discharge under Oklahoma law. The trial court agreed, and dismissed the lawsuit. The nurse appealed, and we retained the cause to address the first impression question of whether the Governor’s temporary emergency COVID orders expressed public policy necessary to apply an exception to at-will employment which would support an action for wrongful discharge. We hold that because the Legislature expressly granted the Governor authority to issue temporary emergency orders, and the orders expressed the established public policy of curtailing an infectious disease, the exception to at-will employment as articulated by Burk v. K-Mart Corp . 1989 OK 22 , ¶17, 770 P.2d 24 and its progeny is applicable from March 24, 2020, until April 30, 2020. APPEAL PREVIOUSLY RETAINED; TRIAL COURT REVERSED; CAUSE REMANDED FOR PROCEEDINGS CONSISTENT WITH THIS OPINION.