Susan Ackerman v. State of Iowa, Iowa Workforce Development, Teresa Wahlert, Teresa Hillary, and Devon Lewis, 913 N.W.2d 610

Susan Ackerman, an Iowa Workforce Development administrative law judge, was covered by a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) that protected against discipline or discharge without cause and provided a grievance/arbitration procedure.
Ackerman testified before the Iowa Senate Government Oversight Committee about alleged pressure by IWD leadership to decide cases in favor of employers.
After her testimony she was suspended and then terminated; she sued the State, division leaders, and others asserting multiple claims including a common‑law wrongful discharge (retaliatory discharge in violation of public policy).
The State moved to dismiss the common‑law retaliatory discharge claim arguing that the tort is limited to at‑will employees; the district court granted the motion and dismissed the claim.
The court of appeals reversed, holding contract (CBA‑covered) employees may bring common‑law retaliatory discharge claims; the Iowa Supreme Court granted further review.
The Iowa Supreme Court held generally that contract employees may bring common‑law retaliatory discharge claims, vacated the district court judgment, and remanded for further proceedings — but declined to decide on whether Ackerman’s statutory remedy under Iowa Code §70A.28 precludes her common‑law claim (the exclusivity issue was not litigated below).

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the common‑law tort of retaliatory discharge is categorically limited to at‑will employees	Ackerman: tort protects public policy and should apply to CBA‑covered employees whose discharge undermines public policy	State: tort is an exception to at‑will doctrine and therefore unavailable to contract employees	Court: Rejected categorical at‑will limitation; contract employees generally may bring the tort
Whether existing contract or statutory remedies preclude the common‑law tort	Ackerman: contractual/statutory remedies do not displace a tort that vindicates public interests and provides deterrent/punitive remedies	State: CBA and statutory remedies (including §70A.28) are adequate and thus preclude the tort	Court: Contract remedies do not categorically preclude the tort; but remanded because exclusivity of §70A.28 (statutory remedy) was not raised below and was not decided
Procedural/threshold question whether this case was the proper vehicle to decide expansion of tort	N/A (defendants raised at‑will limitation below; exclusivity of statute raised only on further review)	N/A	Court proceeded to decide general availability to contract employees but remanded on statutory‑exclusivity issue due to preservation concerns

Springer v. Weeks & Leo Co., 429 N.W.2d 558 (Iowa 1988) (adopted retaliatory‑discharge tort to protect at‑will employees and public policy)
Conaway v. Webster City Prods. Co., 431 N.W.2d 795 (Iowa 1988) (CBA‑covered employees’ retaliatory discharge claims treated as state tort claims, not preempted)
Jasper v. H. Nizam, Inc., 764 N.W.2d 751 (Iowa 2009) (framework for categories of protected activity supporting public‑policy discharge claims)
Fitzgerald v. Salsbury Chem., Inc., 613 N.W.2d 275 (Iowa 2000) (truthful testimony as a clear public policy supporting the tort)
Keveney v. Missouri Military Academy, 304 S.W.3d 98 (Mo. 2010) (recognizing wrongful‑discharge tort applies to contract employees; distinguishes tort from contract remedies)
Gonzalez v. Prestress Eng’g Corp., 115 Ill.2d 1 (Ill. 1986) (permitting union/CBA employees to pursue state tort claims grounded in public policy)
Retherford v. AT & T Commc’ns of the Mountain States, Inc., 844 P.2d 949 (Utah 1992) (extended tort to contract employees to vindicate public policy and allow tort remedies)
Byrd v. VOCA Corp. of Washington, D.C., 962 A.2d 927 (D.C. 2008) (contract employees may bring retaliatory‑discharge tort; tort duty arises from public policy, not contract)
Hagen v. Siouxland Obstetrics & Gynecology, PC, 799 F.3d 922 (8th Cir. 2015) (predicting Iowa would limit tort to at‑will employees; relied on prior Iowa cases)