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Mont. Code Ann. § 39-2-904

Elements of wrongful discharge

Known as the Wrongful Discharge From Employment Act

The act spans §§ 39–39 (12 sections).

Applied in 14 court decisions — leading case Wholey v. Roebuck (2002)

Most recently applied in 690 F. App'x 532 - Doran-Slevin v. United Parcel Service, Inc. (May 2017)

En

How often courts cite this section

199220002010201730
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

(1) A discharge is wrongful only if:

(a) it was in retaliation for the employee's refusal to violate public policy or for reporting a violation of public policy;

(b) the discharge was not for good cause and the employee had completed the employer's probationary period of employment;

(c) the employer materially violated an express provision of its own written personnel policy prior to the discharge, and the violation deprived the employee of a fair and reasonable opportunity to remain in a position of employment with the employer; or

(d) the employer terminated the employee solely based on the employee's legal expression of free speech, including but not limited to statements made on social media.

(2) During a probationary period of employment, the employment may be terminated at the will of either the employer or the employee on notice to the other for any reason or for no reason.

(3) The employer has the broadest discretion when making a decision to discharge any managerial or supervisory employee.

Official source: Montana Code Annotated (Montana Legislature). Reproduced from public-domain Montana statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.