Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Employment Lawyer: RFRA Is No Defense Against Insubordination

Flickr
/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kotomi-jewelry/6738547521

Even if Governor Pence signs the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, or RFRA, an Indianapolis employment lawyer says that doesn’t preclude employers in the state from taking action against employees who might try to invoke the new law.

John Haskin runs his own employment law practice and says even though the “at will” provision of state law says non-contract employees can be fired for any reason, using RFRA as a reason not to provide a service would give an employer plenty of cause to terminate a worker.

“It would be viewed as insubordination, which would make that employee potentially ineligible for unemployment compensation, because that employee is directly disobeying the employer’s directives,” Haskin says.

Haskin says if the governor signs the bill, he expects it not only to be not only challenged in court, but eventually struck down.

He also says he doesn’t expect many instances of a business trying to use the law.

Related Content