Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, January 9, 1994                   TAG: 9401090092
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: D3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

HIGH COURT: RIGHT TO FIRE NOT ABSOLUTE

On a 4-3 vote, the court ruled Friday that employees have the right to sue their employers if they believe they were fired because of race or gender. Lower courts had rejected that argument, noting the state's Human Rights Act says the law is not intended to create a basis for private lawsuits.

The three high court dissenters agreed with the lower courts that the majority opinion represents an unnecessary infringement on the state's employment-at-will doctrine. That doctrine holds that an employee can be fired for any reason so long as the reason does not violate a clearly stated public policy.

The opinion decides the cases of two women. Lawanda Lockhart, who is black, worked as director of admissions for Commonwealth College. She contended that she was fired because she opposed discriminatory practices at the Norfolk-based business school.

Nancy L. Wright alleged that she was fired because she resisted the advances of her employer in Loudoun County.

The firings of Lockhart and Wright were improper "not because they have a vested right to continued employment, but because their employers misused the freedom to terminate the services of at-will employees by purportedly discriminating against their employees on the basis of race and gender," Justice Leroy R. Hassell wrote for the majority.

The court's three senior justices dissented.

Contrary to the language of the Human Rights Act, the majority's opinion had the effect of creating a right to sue under the law and is "an unwarranted encroachment upon Virginia's employment-at-will doctrine, rigidly adhered to by this court until now," wrote Justice A. Christian Compton in dissent.

The case was especially significant for employees such as Wright, who was a sole proprietor's only employee, lawyers said. Federal discrimination laws apply only to companies that employ 15 or more employees.