Bankruptcy

The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit decided few cases involving the Bankruptcy Act in 1976. Of these, only nine merit special attention. The right to file a bankruptcy petition without being fired was the subject of McLellan v. Mississippi Power & Light Co. Nothing in the U.S. Constitution or the Bankruptcy Act prohibits an employer from firing an employee who files a voluntary bankruptcy petition. The McLellan case, however, held that a plaintiff states a claim for relief under the Civil Rights Act of 1861 by alleging that his employer deprived him of his civil rights by firing him after he filed a voluntary bankruptcy petition.