The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- Oklahoma
- Level
- Court
- Authority
- Okla. Const. art. VII; appeal retained from the District Court of Tulsa County; Burk v. K-Mart Corp., 1989 OK 22, 770 P.2d 24
- Issued
- 2021-12-14 Dec. 14, 2021
- Effective
- 2021-12-14 (declaring the law as it stood from March 24, 2020) (read as 2021-12-14)
- End
- n/a (holding applies to conduct 'from March 24, 2020, until April 30, 2020', the life of the elective-surgery postponement)
- In force
- Dec. 14, 2021 (no end date recorded; counted as in force for 120 days)
- Quarters
- 2020 Q2
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
- Limitation types
- Health care ordersWorkplace rulesStanding dutyOperating condition
- Addressees
- employers (private hospital; the holding's reasoning reaches every employer bound by the orders); health care facilities
- Character
- adjudication
- Collection
- Standing duties: Oklahoma DUT-OK
Operative words
At the time that the Governor issued the emergency orders, he did so within the full authority statutorily granted by the Legislature pursuant to 63 O.S. 2011 §§ 6403, and 683.1 and 683.9. The orders were limited to the time of a catastrophic health emergency. The orders expressed the public policy of the State of Oklahoma for the period the orders were effective
Penalty
Tort liability for wrongful discharge in violation of public policy (Burk tort); reversal of dismissal and remand
What it required
A private employer that discharged an at-will employee for refusing to perform work the Governor's orders had postponed (elective surgeries under the Fourth and Seventh Amended EO 2020-07, Ex. OK-006, OK-011) faces a Burk wrongful-discharge tort, because 'the Legislature expressly granted the Governor authority to issue temporary emergency orders, and the orders expressed established public policy of curtailing an infectious disease' (para. 26); the Court held that 'the Governor's temporary orders were Legislatively mandated in a health crisis. They were designed to control infections, and provide a safe and sanitary environment for Oklahomans' (para. 24), and that 'health codes disseminated by the boards of health, as directed by the Legislature, are clear and compelling, articulated, well-defined, firmly established expressions of public policy' (para. 23); the employer's duty to conform its operations to the orders was therefore enforceable in tort by its own employees. Character as recorded: adjudication (workplace duty construed).
Retrieval noteThe opinion recites the order chain: March 15, 2020 emergency (para. 3); Fourth Amended EO 2020-07 of March 24, 2020 ('shall postpone all elective surgeries, minor medical procedures, and non-emergency dental procedures until April 7, 2020'); Seventh Amended EO of April 1, 2020 extending the postponement to April 30, 2020 (para. 4); the nurse 'was abiding by the City of Tulsa Mayor's Safer at Home executive order' (para. 6). Paragraphs 18-21 quote Treat v. Stitt, 2020 OK 64, and 63 O.S. 683.2(A)(4) and 6403(B) as the legislative delegation. The Wayback capture of the OSCN page (Jan. 24, 2022) is recorded as a second source; the exhibit was built from the CourtListener copy. Companion authority read in the CourtListener search results and not saved: McBee v. Shanahan Home Design, 2021 OK 60 (Nov. 16, 2021) (the Supreme Court's emergency joint orders, Ex. OK-049 to OK-051).