Employer not liable to employee-spouse of a whistleblower

Imagine the following scenario—an employee alerts you to a current business practice that (potentially) violates relevant regulations. Not long after, you terminate him for performance-related reasons. On the same day, you also fire the whistleblower's spouse—who had been an employee as well—for performance-related reasons. How protected are you should the whistleblower or his employee-spouse file a claim against you for violating Idaho's Whistleblower Act? Consider the following case summary.

Background

Married, at-will employees Ryan and Lanie Berrett were both terminated from their employment with the Clark County School District No. 161 on June 27, 2012. Before his termination, Ryan—as maintenance supervisor—had been working to address problems with the district's propane furnace system after the detection of propane odors in January 2012. In March, he solicited a service bid for the system's repair, which identified the propane leak as a building code violation. He relayed the service bid to the district's board of trustees.

On June 22, Ryan published a Facebook post detailing his frustrations with the district in addressing the safety issues posed by the propane system. Five days later, he was terminated for insubordination and verbal abuse to district personnel through social media. Lanie's employment was terminated on the same day for performance reasons.

Federal court