Lawyers, Guns and At-Will Employment

An interesting federal court decision out of Mississippi illustrates the tension between individual rights and employer policies against guns in the workplace. In this case, the individual rights won. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that Mississippi's gun law created a public policy exception to Mississippi's employment at will statute. As a result, an aircraft production employee fired for keeping a gun in his locked car at work may sue for wrongful discharge under Mississippi law. (Swindol v. Aurora Flight Scis. Corp., 5th Cir., No. 14-60779, 8/8/16).

Aurora Flight Sciences Corp. fired Robert Swindol in 2013 for violating a company policy prohibiting guns on its property. Swindol argued that the termination infringed on a Mississippi statute that allows workers to store their firearms in a locked vehicle on company grounds. Although the lower court dismissed Swindol's case, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed, finding that the Mississippi firearms statute created a public policy exception to employment at will.

Prior to making its decision, the Fifth Circuit asked the Mississippi Supreme Court to answer a certified question about the effect of Mississippi Code Section 45-9-55 on the traditional doctrine that employees without contracts serve at will and may be fired for any reason. The state supreme court replied that the Mississippi statute can make an employer liable for wrongful discharge if it fires an employee for having a firearm in a locked car at work. The state court indicated that Section 45-9-55 is "express legislative action" that makes terminating an employer for having a firearm inside his locked vehicle on company property "legally impermissible."

Could this type of decision occur in other jurisdictions, such as Georgia? Georgia has enacted statutes that address legal firearms possession, including the so-called "guns everywhere" law.