Polk County Employment & Labor Laws Attorneys

In this video, our Polk County employment attorneys explain how in Iowa an employer can fire an at will employee for misconduct, for some minute or irrational reason or for no reason at all. However, under Iowa law, employers cannot fire an employee because of any bias they have against the employee. The areas which employers can’t discriminate against include race/color, gender, religion, sexual orientation/gender identity, disability, age, or ethnic/national origin.

In this video, our Polk County employment attorneys explain how wrongful termination describes a situation when an employer fires an employee for reasons against public and/or company policy. Iowa is an “At-Will” employment state, meaning that an employer or employee can terminate the employment relationship at any time, for any reason (or no reason at all), and without prior notice. While this may sound unfair towards an employee, most states are “At-Will” employment states as it provides protection for both the employee and employer.

‍

In this video, our Polk County employment attorneys explain how the state of Iowa recognizes a cause of action against an employer who negligently hires or retains employment with an employee that the company knew, or should have reasonably known, is unfit for the job so as to create a danger of harm to employees or customers. The following must be pleaded and proven by the plaintiff’s party in order to sustain a cause of action for negligent hiring in Iowa:

• The employer knew or should have known of the employee’s previous history and unfitness to work prior to hiring;
• By ignoring known and available information, the employer’s hiring actions, and the employee’s unfit, dangerous, and/or incompetent behavior were directly involved in and lead to the injuries sustained by the plaintiff;
• There is an employment relationship or some other type of contractual relationship for employment between the tortfeasor (the person who committed the criminal act) and the defendant employer (also the person defending the allegations against them). Basically this means the person who injured the other person must have a relationship to the company that is being sued for wrongful negligence;
• The employer’s supervision failed to stop the act leading to the wrongful negligence claim;
• The activity of the defendant must have resulted in some kind of injury they can potentially get compensated for.

‍