Court of Appeals: Official not fired for whistleblowing

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The former chief executive of the Oregon Travel Experience was not wrongfully terminated for whistleblowing, the Oregon Court of Appeals has ruled, reversing a trial court’s judgment which allowed a jury to award her $1.26 million in 2016.

The Statesman Journal reports that instead, the court said the circumstances that led to Kyle Walker’s termination did not fulfill the qualifications for a common-law wrongful discharge claim and a jury should not have been allowed by the trial court to consider her claim.

The court also re-denied on appeal Walker’s statutory claim of wrongful discharge for whistleblowing.

Walker was the chief executive of the semi-independent state agency Oregon Travel Information Council, which does business as Oregon Travel Experience, for two years until being fired in 2014.

Walker alleged that she was fired after alerting the Department of Justice that the council was not following public meetings law and was not in compliance with its “roles and authorities.”