Opinion ID: 1205572
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the wilder special relationship

Text: Three days prior to her termination, Garcia and another employee asked for a meeting with at least one member of UniWyo's Board of Directors and some members of the Supervisory Committee, a panel serving an oversight function. See 12 U.S.C. § 1761. According to Garcia, the purpose of that meeting was to discuss [her] own and the staff's experiences with and concerns about [UniWyo's President] Karen Stapp. Garcia wanted that meeting to be kept a secret from Stapp and asked for such assurances from those present. Other employees present at the meeting recall some assurance of confidentiality, but could neither reiterate the exact nature of the pledge nor identify the maker. According to Garcia, [t]hey weren't supposed to go to Karen [Stapp] and to tell Karen what [we] were doing. A Board member present at the meeting later informed the Board's President, who then briefed Stapp on the identity of those present as well as what had been discussed. One day later, Stapp terminated Garcia. All contracts of employment in Wyoming contain an implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, but we limit actions upon such covenants to those rare and exceptional cases where a special relationship has been demonstrated between employer and employee. Wilder, 868 P.2d at 220-22. The implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing may, upon demonstration of a special relationship, serve to redress the inherent imbalance between corporations and individual employees. Wilder, 868 P.2d at 221; McCullough v. Golden Rule Ins. Co., 789 P.2d 855, 858 (Wyo.1990). Usually, the special relationship giving employees an action on the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing stems from a long term employment relationship coupled with a discharge calculated to avoid employer responsibilities to the employee, e.g., benefits or commissions. See Fortune v. National Cash Register Co., 373 Mass. 96, 364 N.E.2d 1251, 1257 (1977); K Mart Corp. v. Ponsock, 103 Nev. 39, 732 P.2d 1364, 1366-69 (1987). The duration of an employment relationship over a period of years is not sufficient, alone, to give rise to a special relationship. We are aware, however, of no case in which such a special relationship has ripened over a period of mere months. See, e.g., D'Angelo v. Gardner, 107 Nev. 704, 819 P.2d 206, 215 (1991). Employed for just over six months prior to termination, Garcia could hardly leverage a self-initiated coffee klatsch with sundry Board and Supervisory Committee members into the basis of a special relationship. Further, there is no evidence that UniWyo used Garcia's termination to avoid benefits earned under the contract of employment. Wilder, 868 P.2d at 222.