Dr. Tontel Obene v. Jackson State University, 233 So. 3d 872

Dr. Tontel Obene was employed by Jackson State University (JSU) as lead epidemiologist/evaluator on a CDC-funded, multi-phase grant administered through the Mississippi Urban Research Center (MURC); her 2010 employment letter tied her term to the grant phase and reserved JSU’s right to terminate with one month’s notice.
The grant entered a three-month continuation phase (Sept. 30–Dec. 31, 2010); Obene prepared the application and budget for that continuation phase.
Dr. Melvin Davis, MURC director and Obene’s supervisor, asked Obene to increase his budgeted extra-duty pay from 2% to 10%; Obene refused and believed the request violated JSU’s moratorium on extra-duty pay.
Obene filed an internal complaint reporting Davis’s conduct and copied several officials; later JSU informed her that her employment terminated effective September 29, 2010, when the contract term ended.
Obene sued for wrongful termination, alleging she was discharged for reporting illegal activity (i.e., Davis’s alleged improper seek of grant funds); the trial court granted JSU summary judgment, holding Obene’s claim did not fit the McArn exception because the reported conduct was not actually illegal.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Obene was an at-will employee or a contractual employee with enforceable term	Obene contended she expected renewal with the grant and relied on a written term tied to the grant phase	JSU argued her letter reserved an unfettered right to terminate, making employment at will or merely nonrenewal	Court held the termination-right clause rendered the stated term legally indefinite; Obene was at will
Whether reporting Davis’s request invoked McArn public-policy exception for wrongful termination	Obene argued Davis’s demand to increase his share of grant funds to 10% was illegal (violated federal embezzlement statute) and she was terminated for reporting it	JSU argued the conduct complained of was not actually criminal and therefore not protected by McArn; termination was nonrenewal/at-will	Court held the alleged conduct was not criminal under the cited statute; McArn did not apply; summary judgment for JSU
Whether subjective belief in illegality suffices to invoke McArn	Obene relied on her belief and internal complaint to show protected reporting	JSU maintained objective illegality is required; subjective belief is irrelevant	Court held McArn requires the reported activity actually be illegal; subjective belief is insufficient

McArn v. Allied Bruce-Terminix Co., 626 So. 2d 603 (Miss. 1993) (recognizes two public-policy exceptions to at-will termination: refusing to participate in illegal act and reporting illegal acts)
Miranda v. Wesley Health Sys. LLC, 949 So. 2d 63 (Miss. Ct. App. 2006) (an employer’s unfettered right to discharge makes an asserted definite-term employment effectively at will)
Swindol v. Aurora Flight Scis. Corp., 194 So. 3d 847 (Miss. 2016) (confirms McArn exceptions remain the only recognized public-policy exceptions)
Gibbs v. Porterville Water Ass’n, 203 So. 3d 661 (Miss. Ct. App. 2016) (standard of review for summary judgment)
Hammons v. Fleetwood Homes of Miss. Inc., 907 So. 2d 357 (Miss. Ct. App. 2004) (McArn exceptions apply only where the complained-of acts are actually criminal)
Wheeler v. BL Dev. Corp., 415 F.3d 399 (5th Cir. 2005) (plaintiff’s subjective belief that conduct is illegal is irrelevant when the conduct is not actually illegal)