Case Title: Johnson v. National Beef Packing Co.

Citation: 220 Kan. 52, 551 P.2d 779

Docket Number: 47,965

State: kansas

Court: Kansas Supreme Court

Date: 1976-06-12T00:00:00Z

Document:
220 Kan. 52 (1976)
551 P.2d 779
LENARD JOHNSON, Appellant,
v.
NATIONAL BEEF PACKING COMPANY, Appellee.
No. 47,965

Supreme Court of Kansas.
Opinion filed June 12, 1976.
Harold K. Greenleaf, Jr., of Smith and Greenleaf, of Liberal, argued the cause and was on the brief for the appellant.
Gene H. Sharp, of Vance, Hobble, Neubauer, Nordling & Sharp, of Liberal, argued the cause, and Richard R. Rock, of Rock & Smith, of Arkansas City, was with him on the brief for the appellee.
The opinion of the court was delivered by
KAUL,, J.:
This action was instituted by plaintiff-appellant, Lenard Johnson, against his former employer, defendant-appellee, for loss of wages and punitive damages for the alleged wrongful discharge from his employment.
The dispositive issue presented is whether there was a contract express or implied for a fixed term of employment. The appeal is from a summary judgment in favor of defendant rendered after interrogatories of several witnesses and the deposition of plaintiff had been filed. When defendant's motion for summary judgment was presented to the trial court, the parties stipulated that all of the evidence relating to the terms of the contract of employment was before the court.
In the fall of 1971 plaintiff quit his employment with a meat packing plant in Iowa. Plaintiff knew there was a packing plant in Liberal, Kansas, and came there in September 1971 and sought *53 employment from defendant. Plaintiff filed an employment application with defendant and was hired on October 12, 1971. Plaintiff's account of the only conversation he had with a representative of defendant, at the time of his employment, was that he was told that he would be a probationary employee for ninety days and if during that period he could prove that he could lug beef he would become a permanent employee. Plaintiff makes no contention, nor was there any evidence, that the duration of his employment was agreed upon or ever discussed and no written contract was executed. In his deposition plaintiff acknowledged that his understanding of the terms of his employment was "I had the right to quit at any time I wanted to."
Plaintiff worked as a "beef lugger" until March 1972, when he injured his shoulder in the course of his duties. We were informed on oral argument plaintiff was awarded workmen's compensation benefits for this injury. Subsequent to the shoulder injury, plaintiff was transferred to a different job which involved stacking boxes and loading trucks. Plaintiff was later transferred to a position entitled "manifestor," which involved the recording of the shipments which were loaded on respective trucks. Plaintiff continued to work on the manifestor job until a few days prior to his termination when he was temporarily assigned to another job which entailed some heavier lifting. Plaintiff informed his supervisor that he was unable to lug the beef which he was required to do on this last job, and as a result thereof was discharged several days later, on October 7, 1972.
Plaintiff relates the events preceding his discharge in these words:
This litigation ensued and following summary judgment for defendant plaintiff appealed stating his one point in these words:
*54 This court follows the general rule that in the absence of a contract, express or implied, between an employee and his employer covering the duration of employment, the employment is terminable at the will of either party, and the employee states no cause of action for breach of contract by alleging that he has been discharged. (Johnston v. Farmers Alliance Mutual Ins. Co., 218 Kan. 543, 545 P.2d 312; Lorson v. Falcon Coach, Inc., 214 Kan. 670, 522 P.2d 449; May v. Santa Fe Trail Transportation Co., 189 Kan. 419, 370 P.2d 390; Swart v. Huston, 154 Kan. 182, 117 P.2d 576; and 53 Am.Jur.2d, Master and Servant, § 43, pp. 117-118.)
Plaintiff concedes the rule to be controlling in Kansas, but attempts to escape the application thereof by arguing that a "Company Policy Manual," distributed to employees during plaintiff's employment, constituted an express contract or served as a basis for establishing a contract of employment by implication. The record discloses that the policy manual was published and distributed to employees sometime in late spring or summer of 1972, some nine or ten months after the commencement of plaintiff's employment. Plaintiff points out a statement in the manual "No employee shall be dismissed without just cause." Plaintiff also relies on a statement in one of defendant's advertisements that "This is not seasonal employment...." Plaintiff argues that the statements referred to were binding on defendant in its employment relationship, and that they fix the employment duration at life or until an employee reaches retirement age.
A copy of the manual has been supplied to us with the record on appeal. It appears to be a general statement of company policies dealing with employee's benefits, insurance, vacations, holidays, etc., as well as general operating procedures and plant rules. The manual does provide that new employees shall be probationary employees until they have worked ninety days, at which time an employee would become a regular full-time employee. This conforms with plaintiff's account of his conversation at the time of his employment. We find nothing in the manual expressly providing for a fixed term of employment, nor is there language from which a contract to that effect could be inferred.
General rules applicable to employment are set forth in 53 Am.Jur.2d, Master and Servant, § 27:
Concerning an agreement for permanent employment the same treatise [Master and Servant], § 32 reads:
Moreover, as we have previously pointed out, the manual was not published until long after plaintiff's employment. It was only a unilateral expression of company policy and procedures. Its terms were not bargained for by the parties and any benefits conferred by it were mere gratuities. Certainly, no meeting of the minds was evidenced by the defendant's unilateral act of publishing company policy.
Plaintiff argues that the term "permanent employment" should be construed to mean some fixed or definite period of time, such as for life or until age sixty-five. As previously pointed out, an agreement to give permanent employment simply means to give a steady job of some permanence, as distinguished from a temporary job or temporary employment. (53 Am.Jur.2d, Master and Servant, § 32, pp. 107-108.)
While what has been said disposes of the controlling issue presented, we shall briefly comment on other matters mentioned in the briefs.
Plaintiff complains of loss of vacation pay. By the terms of the Company Policy Manual vacation eligibility requires employment for a period of one year. Plaintiff was not eligible for vacation pay. Plaintiff also asserts that he was not granted a grievance hearing as contemplated by the manual. However, plaintiff admits that he never submitted a written grievance within five days, as required by the manual. Moreover, he was granted a conference with Mr. Jacobson, company president, which is the final step in grievance procedure outlined by the manual.
*56 Concerning plaintiff's argument that he was dismissed without just cause, defendant answers that plaintiff's dismissal was for refusal to obey orders of his supervisors  conduct which is expressly specified as a ground for dismissal in a section of the manual entitled "general plant rules."
The record clearly indicates that plaintiff's theory was that the policy manual constituted an express contract of employment or in the alternative that a contract should be implied from the manual and company advertisements. In his one point on appeal, plaintiff states the error relied upon was the trial court's failure to find either an express or implied contract of employment. In his brief on appeal plaintiff states:
Notwithstanding his definite commitment to a contract theory before the trial court and in his brief on appeal, plaintiff has, on the day the appeal was argued to this court, presented a supplementary brief with additional citations together with a motion that leave be granted to file the brief. Defendant has filed a response strenuously objecting on the ground that plaintiff is out of time and further that he is attempting to change his theory of the case from contract to tort. We think defendant's objection is well-taken. We have, nevertheless, examined the additional cases cited by plaintiff and find them to sound in tort on a theory generally involving termination of employment allegedly motivated by malice or based on retaliation constituting a contravention of public policy, such as refusal by an employee to give perjured testimony as in Petermann v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 174 C.A.2d 184, 344 P.2d 25, or reporting for jury service in violation of employer's orders as in Nees v. Hocks, (Or.) 536 P.2d 512.
In the instant case no claim was made that plaintiff's termination was motivated by malice or that it was based on retaliation for some conduct of plaintiff.
The parties stipulated that all evidence relating to a contract of employment was before the trial court. There was no issue as to any material fact. Under such circumstances, summary judgment was properly rendered under the rule set forth in Lorson v. Falcon Coach, Inc., supra.
The judgment is affirmed.