Opinion ID: 1225527
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: breach of implied employment contract claim

Text: [4] The parties agree that the termination of Cates and the other garage employees occurred during a reduction in force prompted by economic necessity. N.M. Tech's employee handbook, which was issued to all employees, had a provision outlining the layoff policy, should a reduction in force become necessary. Cates claims that N.M. Tech's decision to terminate his employment violated the implied employment contract created by this employee handbook. N.M. Tech concedes, for the purposes of summary judgment, that an implied employment contract was created by the employee handbook. The parties only dispute whether N.M. Tech breached the handbook's layoff policy. The district court found that the terms of the employee handbook had been met. The reduction-in-force policy of N.M. Tech, as stated in the employee handbook, is as follows: The selection of regular employees for lay-off or reduced hours shall be based on the employee's performance and the ability to perform the remaining work as judged by the organizational unit's supervisory staff. When performance and ability to perform the remaining work are judged to be relatively equal then the length of continuous regular service will be the deciding factor. New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Employee Handbook, § 7-1(II) (May 1994). Thus, the express terms of the reduction-in-force policy require that the supervisors of an organizational unit decide which employees meet the future labor needs of N.M. Tech. The EMRTC supervisors, Rudolfo Correa and Lonnie House, chose to retain Laws over Cates and stated in their affidavits that they based their decision upon Laws' Soviet tank experience. The undisputed facts show that Cates had little to no experience working on Soviet tanks. According to the affidavits of Correa and House, Laws' experience on Soviet tanks gave him a greater ability to perform the anticipated future work of N.M. Tech. Cates produced no evidence, through affidavits, depositions, or other documents, to dispute the affidavits of House and Correa. While Cates did argue in his memorandum in opposition to summary judgment that N.M. Tech did not engage in significant testing of Soviet tanks, Cates did not establish any facts to dispute N.M. Tech's claim that, at the time the termination decision was made, N.M. Tech anticipated that it would need a mechanic to repair Soviet tanks. The facts support the conclusion that, prior to making the termination decisions, N.M. Tech followed its reduction-in-force policy by having the EMRTC supervisory staff meet to judge the remaining work. Further, the undisputed facts show that the EMRTC supervisors anticipated Soviet tank work, and that this perceived future need compelled their termination decision. Thus, Cates raised no issue of material fact to support the conclusion that the N.M. Tech supervisors did not follow the reduction-in-force policy. Having found a valid reason for Cates' termination as set forth in the employee handbook, the trial court properly granted summary judgment on Cates' breach of implied employment contract claim. See Kestenbaum v. Pennzoil Co., 108 N.M. 20, 24-26, 766 P.2d 280, 284-86 (1988) (stating that implied employment contracts can be created through the representations of employers including the employers' handbooks or manuals).