## Facts

- Karen R. Bammert worked for Don’s SuperValu, Inc., for about 26 years and was an at-will assistant manager.
- Don’s SuperValu was owned by Don Williams; his wife, Nona Williams, was arrested for drunk driving.
- On June 7, 1997, Bammert’s husband, a Menomonie police sergeant, participated in Nona Williams’s arrest by administering a breathalyzer test.
- On August 28, 1997, Don’s SuperValu terminated Bammert’s employment.
- Bammert alleged she was fired in retaliation for her husband’s participation in the arrest of her employer’s wife.
- Bammert claimed the discharge fell within Wisconsin’s public-policy exception to employment at will.

## Issues

1. Whether Wisconsin’s public-policy exception to the employment-at-will doctrine permits a wrongful-discharge claim when an employee is fired in retaliation for a non-employee spouse’s conduct.

## Decision

- The Wisconsin Supreme Court held the public-policy exception does not apply to terminations retaliating for a non-employee spouse’s conduct.
- The court affirmed dismissal for failure to state a claim because Bammert did not allege she was discharged for her own conduct that fulfilled a legal duty or refused to violate a clearly defined public policy.
- The court acknowledged the alleged termination could be morally reprehensible but concluded it was not legally actionable under the narrow exception.
- A dissent would have extended the exception, reasoning that retaliation linked to lawful law-enforcement activity indirectly harms a fundamental public policy.

## Legal Principles

- Wisconsin generally permits termination of at-will employees for good cause, no cause, or even morally wrong reasons, absent a recognized legal constraint.
- The public-policy exception is narrow and applies when an employee is discharged for fulfilling an affirmative legal obligation or for refusing to violate a fundamental and well-defined public policy evidenced by existing law.
- The exception focuses on the terminated employee’s own protected conduct within the employment relationship, not the conduct of third parties.
- Courts will not extend the public-policy exception without workable limiting principles, particularly where doing so would expand liability to retaliation based on actions of spouses, relatives, or other non-employees.

## Conclusion

The Wisconsin Supreme Court refused to extend the public-policy wrongful-discharge tort to cover firing an at-will employee to retaliate for a non-employee spouse’s lawful conduct, leaving the remedy for such retaliation outside the established public-policy exception.


Bammert v. Don's SuperValu, Inc., 254 Wis. 2d 347, 646 N.W.2d 365 (Wis. 2002)