Opinion ID: 1433749
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The At-Will Relationship

Text: As a threshold matter, Barmettler was an at-will employee; therefore, Reno Air could dismiss Barmettler with or without cause as long as the dismissal did not offend public policy. Vancheri v. GNLV Corp., 105 Nev. 417, 421, 777 P.2d 366, 369 (1989). In Vancheri, we also noted that an employee's subjective expectations cannot create a contract of employment. Id. The at-will employment relationship is rebuttable if the employee can prove by a preponderance of the evidence that a contract, either express or implied, required termination for cause only. Southwest Gas Corp. v. Vargas, 111 Nev. 1064, 1071, 901 P.2d 693, 697 (1995) (citing American Bank Stationery v. Farmer, 106 Nev. 698, 701, 799 P.2d 1100, 1101-02 (1990)). Barmettler argues that, notwithstanding his at-will status, Reno Air's Drug and Alcohol Policy placed limitations on its ability to terminate him. As support, Barmettler cites Holmes v. Union Oil Co., 114 Idaho 773, 760 P.2d 1189 (Idaho Ct.App. 1988). In Holmes, a long-term employee notified his employer of a second DUI arrest, fearing that the arrest would lead to incarceration and, thus, termination. Id., 760 P.2d at 1191. His employer offered to place him in a residential alcohol treatment program with the condition that he abide by the company's continuing rehabilitation plan following his release from the treatment center. Id. The employer also submitted a five-page letter to the criminal court outlining its rehabilitation plan and reiterating that the employee's continued employment was conditioned on compliance with the plan. Id. In reliance on the plan, the criminal court suspended proceedings and placed the employee on court supervised probation for eighteen months. Unfortunately, about seven months into the probationary period, the criminal court revoked the probation for a technical violation of the conditions of probation. In response, the company fired the employee. Id. at 1191-92. Following termination, the employee filed suit alleging that the rehabilitation plan constituted an express or implied contract of continued employment. Specifically, he asserted that, notwithstanding his at-will status, the company's five-page letter to the judge who had agreed to the terms of his probation, created a specified duration of employment or, at least, restricted the company's ability to terminate. Id. at 1192. The Holmes court concluded that the finder of fact could view the rehabilitation program as creating a mutual understanding that employment would continue for at least eighteen months absent a termination for cause or if the employee should quit his job. The court reasoned that, although the letter clearly stated that the employee could be discharged for violating its terms, it was unclear whether a technical violation of probation would also constitute a violation of the terms of the letter and therefore grounds for discharge. Thus, under the circumstances set forth in Holmes, the jury concluded that the at-will relationship had been changed by the letter. Id. at 1193-94. The court, however, qualified its holding in a footnote: We do not hold or intimate that every job or training or rehabilitation program could alter an employee's at-will status. This case involves a unique nexus between an employee's participation in an employer-provided program and a grant of probation for a specific period in a criminal case at the mutual request of the employer and employee. Even in this unique circumstance, an employer desiring to maintain an at-will relationship could make an express disclaimer of intent to limit potential reasons for discharge or to create any expectation of continued employment for a certain duration. The record before us contains no such disclaimer. Id. Holmes has no applicability to the case at bar. Barmettler's discharge had nothing to do with the breach of an express or implied covenant of continued employment created in derogation of the at-will arrangement that existed when he undertook and continued employment with Reno Air.