Opinion ID: 1766103
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: discipline and discharge

Text: Section 1. The Company will not discipline or discharge any regular employee without just cause. Section 2. Should there be any dispute between the Company and the Union or the employees concerning an alleged lack of just cause for a certain disciplinary action or discharge, such dispute shall be adjusted as a grievance in accordance with the terms of this Agreement. In all cases the burden of proof shall be a preponderance of the evidence, and the arbitrator shall determine which party bears the burden of proof. At the hearing, the arbitrator heard testimony from several witnesses, including Brothers, Jacobs, and Hanson. Jacobs and Hanson testified as to what they had observed during the stakeout, which had the effect of implicating Nelson. After hearing all the evidence and after considering the arguments propounded by the union and by Lapeyrouse, the arbitrator rendered an opinion in which he held that Lapeyrouse had just cause to terminate Nelson. The arbitrator predicated his decision on evidence that tended to show that, at least on one occasion, November 8, Nelson took part in perpetrating a theft against Lapeyrouse. Specifically, the arbitrator determined that Lapeyrouse had proven by a preponderance of the evidence that on the night of November 8, 1982, Nelson was in charge of weighing and unloading trucks at Lapeyrouse's grain elevator and that a truck containing grain entered the elevator to be weighed and unloaded but, instead, left loaded and that, with Nelson's knowledge and supervision, a weight ticket was recorded with a false weight and presented to Lapeyrouse for payment. On September 14, 1983, Nelson brought an action for slander against the defendants, seeking compensatory and punitive damages. Nelson alleged in his complaint and now argues on appeal that the following oral statements constituted slander: 1) Brothers's accusation that he committed a theft, in the presence of B.C. Hall and the polygraph test operator; 2) statements made during the grievance hearing; 3) Brothers's statement to John Taylor, a co-employee of Nelson, in the presence of a polygraph test operator, one week prior to his termination, that Nelson had been caught stealing grain; and 4) Jacobs's statement to Leo Bolar, a customer of Lapeyrouse, that Jerry will not be with us long because Jerry was stealing grain. The defendants filed an answer in which they set forth the defenses of privilege, truth, federal preemption, and an absence of publication. After several depositions had been taken and after affidavits had been filed, the trial court granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment, and Nelson appeals.