PITTSBURGH - A helicopter pilot has lost the $2.5 million verdict he scored in Allegheny County, as a state appeals court has found as an at-will employee, he could not pursue a wrongful termination claim.
Judge Judith Ference Olson and others on the Superior Court overturned the verdict on Nov. 18, dealing a blow to Patrick DeVore's lawsuit against Metro Aviation.
Though at-will employees can be fired at any time for any reason, DeVore argued he could pursue the wrongful discharge claim under a public policy exception in the Emergency Medical Services System Act.
He claims modifications to medical transport helicopters that he wanted to perform would have helped patients and health care providers.
Olson wrote that Pennsylvania courts have acted cautiously when considering exceptions to at-will employees suing over their terminations.
"If it became the law that an employee may bring a wrongful discharge claim pursuant to the public policy exception to the at-will employment doctrine merely by referring to generalized pronouncements about community interests offered by the General Assembly, the exception would soon swallow the rule," she wrote.
"We therefore hold that a bald reference to general articulations of the public interest, in the absence of something more such as an adverse employment action which impairs a well-defined statutory right or impedes the function of a Commonwealth agency, is insufficient to overcome the strong presumption in favor of at-will employment relationships."
DeVore began working for Metro in 2007 but in 2017 the relationship soured. Metro had switched to a smaller helicopter and nurses complained about a lack of space for them and patients.
DeVore suggested reconfigurations but was rejected, as his supervisor explained it was illegal to modify the helicopters.
Still, DeVore tried to talk to a mechanic to ask about the safety of possible reconfigurations but was transferred to the company's head director maintenance. His supervisor accused him of failing to follow the chain of command and verify a helicopter's airworthiness before turnover.
DeVore lashed out verbally and was suspended for three days in October 2017. He was later fired for allegedly failing to complete a pre-flight checklist, leading him to file suit in September 2018.
In 2022, a jury sided with DeVore and awarded him $2.5 million in damages. Metro unsuccessfully motioned for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and appealed.
DeVore contended his termination was against public policy set out in the EMSS Act, providing the testimony of nurses who supported the reconfiguration.
A section of the EMSS Act includes "several broadly framed pronouncements" on which DeVore relied, Olson wrote. Among them is: "It serves the public interest if the emergency medical services system is able to quickly adapt and evolve to meet the needs of the residents of this Commonwealth for emergency and urgent medical care and to reduce their illness and injury risks."
This statement and others aren't enough to show DeVore was fired in violation of public policy, the court found.
"Nowhere does DeVore explain, however, how these broadly drawn statutory declarations function like the legislative provisions that have supported policy-based exceptions to at-will employment in prior cases," Olson wrote.
"Plainly, the statements DeVore draws to our attention create no rights and regulate no conduct or behavior within the employment context."