Ruling that part of the law unconstitutionally infringed on the state’s separation of powers, the Arkansas Court of Appeals on Wednesday struck down a key part of Arkansas’ law protecting whistleblowers in public employment.
Under the Arkansas Whistleblower Protection Act, an employer may not terminate or otherwise punish an employee for communicating a violation of state law or waste of state funds to the appropriate authorities. A separate portion of the r act says that a public employee who sues and claims he was wrongfully terminated may ask a circuit court to expedite a hearing and, if he “demonstrates that a reasonable person would conclude that his or her termination” violated the act, the court shall order him reinstated pending the outcome of his lawsuit.
According to the Court of Appeals, this part of the statute unconstitutionally violates Amendment 80, which gave the Arkansas Supreme Court the exclusive authority to dictate rules of procedure for Arkansas courts.
The case before the court, Little Rock School District v. Robinson, arose when then-LRSD executive director of human resources Robert Robinson was not renewed for employment following the 2023-2024 school year. The school district sent Robinson and the other two human resources directors notices of nonrenewal, and all three interviewed for two new director positions created as part of a districtwide reorganization. The two other directors were hired to fill the new positions, and Robinson’s contract...
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