Court flirts with third rail in upholding transit worker’s jury award

More than 40 years ago, the Illinois Supreme Court first recognized a claim for retaliatory discharge as an exception to the centuries-old doctrine of employment-at-will. In the decades that followed, Illinois courts have consistently declined to expand the contours of retaliatory discharge claims, which require a terminated employee to establish that she was fired in retaliation for activities, in violation of a clearly mandated public policy.

A recent decision by the Appellate Court of Illinois suggests a more expansive reading of what constitutes a clear mandate of public policy, and a former Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) worker is a half million dollars richer for it.

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Glynis Harvey began working for the CTA in 1990 as an electrical worker. She rose through the ranks, and by 2013, she held the title of chief equipment engineer. In that position, her duties included overseeing the testing and approval of bus parts and equipment for CTA buses, procuring new bus parts, and supervising a team of bus engineers.

Harvey worked out of a heavy maintenance facility referred to as the “South Shops.” She reported to chief bus equipment engineer, James Caco, who reported to general manager, Norman Santos. Santos’s boss was George Cavelle, the director of bus maintenance at the South Shops.

The CTA had a supply-chain management contract with NAPA Auto Parts, a nationwide parts distributor. Under this arrangement, NAPA provided parts to the CTA for testing and possible installation on its vehicles.

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