Cook v. Caterpillar Tractor Co. (1980), 85 Ill. App.3d 402, 406, 407 N.E.2d 95. Contrary to this position was the first district's opinions in Wyatt v. Jewel Cos. (1982), 108 Ill. App.3d 840, 439 N.E.2d 1053, and Midgett v. Sackett-Chicago, Inc. (1983), 118 Ill. App.3d 7, 454 N.E.2d 1092, holding that the existence of a contractual remedy pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement does not bar plaintiff from also pursuing a remedy in tort for retaliatory discharge. In Wyatt, the court discussed Kelsay's allowance of punitive damages where an employer, after the date of Kelsay, discharges an employee for filing a workers' compensation claim.

The appellate court in the first district, however, reversed the trial court in Midgett, holding that a cause of action was stated. ( Midgett v. Sackett-Chicago (1983), 118 Ill. App.3d 7.) We allowed a petition of Gonzalez and Repyak for leave to appeal from the fourth district judgment in Gonzalez (cause No. 59350) and allowed the petition of the defendant Sackett-Chicago for leave to appeal from the first district judgment in Midgett (cause No. 59341), under our Rule 315 (87 Ill.2d R. 315). The appeals were consolidated for review. In cause No. 59341 Terry Midgett, who was injured on January 31, 1979, in the course of his employment with Sackett-Chicago, filed a workers' compensation claim with the Industrial Commission. The claim was still pending when Midgett was discharged from his employment by Sackett in January 1980. Sackett reached a settlement of the claim with Midgett in August 1980. On December 31, 1980, Midgett, claiming a retaliatory discharge, filed an action in tort in his own name and on behalf of his wife and minor children, seeking compensatory and punitive damages against Sackett. Sackett moved to dismiss, stating that Midgett was a union member c

" 108 Ill. App.3d 840, 841-42, 434 N.E.2d 1053, 1054. More recently, in Midgett v. Sackett-Chicago, Inc. (1983), 118 Ill. App.3d 7, in a situation factually analogous to Wyatt and the case at bar, the First District Appellate Court once again denounced the Cook majority holding and reversed a dismissal of plaintiff's retaliatory discharge cause of action. In addition to reasoning that Cook was antagonistic to Kelsay, the court in Midgett acknowledged that Cook cannot be reconciled with the supreme court's rationale in Palmateer v. International Harvester Co. (1981), 85 Ill.2d 124, 421 N.E.2d 876.

More than "`purely private interests'" are at stake in cases involving those claims. Midgett, 105 Ill. 2d at 151, 473 N.E.2d at 1284, quoting Midgett v. Sackett-Chicago, Inc., 118 Ill. App. 3d 7, 9, 454 N.E.2d 1092, 1094 (1983). The court pointed out that under the collective bargaining agreements at issue there, the remedies available to the employees would be limited to reinstatement and back pay. Midgett, 105 Ill. 2d at 150, 473 N.E.2d at 1284.

See also Ward v. Howard P. Foley Co. (1983), 119 Ill. App.3d 894, 95-98, 457 N.E.2d 155 (Barry, J., dissenting). The holding in Wyatt was recently affirmed in Midgett v. Sackett-Chicago, Inc. (1983), 118 Ill. App.3d 7, 454 N.E.2d 1092. There the court held that the recognition of a cause of action in tort for retaliatory discharge allows an employee covered under the terms of a collective bargaining agreement an additional remedy in areas where strong public policy as opposed to private interests is involved. A subsequent First District opinion placed limitations on the holding in Wyatt, where an employee covered under a collective bargaining agreement raises and litigates the retaliatory discharge issue under the grievance procedures provided in the agreement.

The primary reason for this result, according to the court, was that there would be an inconsistency in allowing at-will employees to recover punitive damages for their wrongful discharge while denying that remedy to employees hired under a union contract. Another division of the First District followed Wyatt in Midgett v. Sackett-Chicago, Inc. (1983), 118 Ill. App.3d 7, 454 N.E.2d 1092. Other tribunals have also resolved the issue common to Cook and Wyatt.

"In Wyatt v. Jewel Cos. (1982), 108 Ill. App.3d 840, 439 N.E.2d 1053, this court stated that to allow a cause of action for retaliatory discharge to an employee at will while denying it to a union member, would lead to an absurd result since punitive damages would be available to an employee at will, but would not be available to an employee protected by a union contract, despite the fact that union contracts are specifically designed to protect against discharge other than for cause." ( Midgett v. Sackett-Chicago, Inc. (1983), 118 Ill. App.3d 7, 9; contra, Cook v. Caterpillar Tractor Co. (1980), 85 Ill. App.3d 402, 407 N.E.2d 95; Deatrick v. Funk Seeds International (1982), 109 Ill. App.3d 998, 441 N.E.2d 669; Lamb v. Briggs Manufacturing (7th Cir. 1983), 700 F.2d 1092; see also Carnation Co. v. Borner (Tex. 1980), 610 S.W.2d 450.) The parties have not questioned the applicability to this case of the rule announced in Wyatt.