By Charles S. Plumb

On November 1, changes to the Oklahoma Anti-Discrimination Act will go into effect that substantially restrict the ability of former employees to sue their employers for wrongful discharge in personal injury claims. But a recent Oklahoma Supreme Court decision may encourage employees’ lawyers to pursue intentional infliction of emotional distress claims against employers as a way to compensate for the new limitations on the ability to file wrongful discharge lawsuits.

In the case, Camran Durham, a 16-year-old employee at a McDonald’s restaurant, took prescription antiseizure medication during the day. During one of his shifts, he asked his manager three times to allow him to take his medication, but the manager refused each request and called him a “f____ing retard.” The employee left work crying and never returned. His mother reported that he was depressed and introverted, slept all day, and had to be homeschooled.

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Voters in Oklahoma decided to show their disapproval of the insurance mandate found in federal health care reform by passing a health care choice measure on Election Day. The initiative allows Oklahoma residents to opt out of health care mandates by prohibiting laws that would make residents, employers, or health care providers participate in a health care system.

By Charles S. Plumb

Yesterday’s ruling by a federal court of appeals stops enforcement of key portions of Oklahoma’s sometimes controversial immigration law known as House Bill 1804. First, a brief history.

House Bill 1804 went into effect on November 1, 2007, and its business-related immigration provisions were immediately challenged in court. On June 4, 2008, an Oklahoma City federal court ruled the following aspects of the law couldn’t be enforced: read more…

Oklahoma’s immigration law, House Bill 1804, contains a number of employment provisions, including limitations on terminating employees while knowingly retaining unauthorized workers and requiring verification of employees’ legal work status. On February 11, 2009, Tulsa District Court Judge Jefferson D. Sellers ruled that the immigration law’s employment provisions don’t violate the Oklahoma Constitution.

Oklahoma employers should keep in mind that in June 2008, an Oklahoma City federal court held that the Oklahoma immigration law’s employment provisions shouldn’t be enforced because they violated federal law. That ruling is presently on appeal to the federal court of appeals in Denver.

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