Two brothers have been fighting for eight years to regain their jobs with the Oconomowoc Area School District after being cited for stealing scrap metal. On Tuesday, they took their case to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
The court’s decision could set a new precedent for how Wisconsin employers handle employee investigations in the future.
The case revolves around the timing of the brothers’ firing. In 2016, after paying a $500 fine, they were fired two days later. Their lawyers argue that this violates the Fair Employment Act, which protects against discrimination based on arrest records.
Wisconsin is one of the few states that bans discrimination based on arrest and conviction records. However, employers can defend themselves if the arrest or conviction is directly related to the job.
The brothers’ attorney, Nicholas Yurk, argued that the information law enforcement gave before the firing was protected under the Fair Employment Act. However, Oyvind Wistrom, representing the school district, said the district already believed the brothers were guilty before getting that information from the police.
Justices Rebecca Dallet and Jill Karofsky questioned why it took the school two years to fire the brothers if they believed they were guilty early on. On the other hand, Chief Justice Annette Ziegler warned the case could backfire on employees, saying it might encourage employers to fire workers quickly before investigations finish to avoid dealing with the law.
In 2021, the state’s Labor and Industry Review Commission found that the school district violated the Fair Employment Act. A lower court upheld this decision in 2022, but the district appealed. In January, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals overturned the decision, ruling that the brothers were not protected under the Fair Employment Act.