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99-1319 Batteries Plus, LLC v. Mohr

By: dmc-admin//July 2, 2001//

99-1319 Batteries Plus, LLC v. Mohr

By: dmc-admin//July 2, 2001//

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“The statute speaks of prohibiting a deduction from wages due or earned unless: (1) the employee authorizes the employer in writing to make such a deduction; or (2) the employee and a representative of the employer determine that the ‘loss’ is due to the “worker’s negligence, carelessness, or willful and intentional conduct”; or (3) the employee is found guilty or held liable in a court of competent jurisdiction. Here, Mohr refused to sign anything, as was his right. He and his representative refused to concede anything. Batteries Plus never contended that the overpayment was his fault and, naturally, he would not have conceded that it was. He also denied that he owed anything. Consequently, the only option that Batteries Plus had left was to go to court. The record shows that Mohr’s attorney told Batteries Plus that it would have to drop that option, or Mohr would consider himself fired. Because of the jury’s verdict, we take as a fact that Batteries Plus discharged Mohr. Undeniably, the discharge came after Batteries Plus received his attorney’s blunt communication. A discharge under these highly strained circumstances, in which the employer is given no option except to sue the employee for what the employer believes is an overpayment of expenses, is not a wrongful discharge that violates the spirit of Wis. Stat. § 103.455.”

Reversed and remanded.

DISSENTING OPINION: Abrahamson, C.J. “Like the court of appeals, I would affirm the circuit court judgment based on the jury verdict in this case, which concluded that Batteries Plus’s discharge of Clinton Mohr violated the public policy prohibiting an employer from extracting repayment of disputed expenses from an employee by means of the economic coercion of the paycheck.”

Review of a Decision of the Court of Appeals, Prosser, J.

Attorneys:

For Appellant: Roger L. Pettit, Milwaukee

For Respondent: Richard R. Grant, Janesville

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