Opinion ID: 1925657
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The power to discharge.

Text: Paragraph 3 of the Independent Truckman's Agreement permitted unilateral termination of the contract by either party. In this respect, an impartial juror could reasonably find that the agreement was similar to an at-will employment contract, which may be terminated at any time by the employer or the employee. Thus MHD had the right to discharge Mr. Young, either for cause (which required no notice) or without cause (on sixty-days notice). While not conclusive, this arrangement, as MHD all but acknowledges in its brief, is some evidence of an employer-employee relationship. See Safeway Stores, 448 A.2d at 861. As the unilateral termination provision played out following the theft of Mrs. Schecter's valuables, Mr. Fritz treated Mr. Young as an employee. Specifically, Fritz placed Young on probation, and he suspended him for sixty days. Although Mr. Fritz asserted that he had expressed himself imprecisely in using the terms probation and suspension, an impartial jury could reasonably find the use of these terms by MHD's representative to be significant. It is surely a matter of common knowledge that employers place employees on probation, or suspend employees, in order to discipline them for misconduct for unsatisfactory performance of their duties. The actions of Mr. Fritz after the theft of Mrs. Schecter's valuables, as well as his phraseology, arguably support an inference that MHD and Mr. Fritz viewed (and therefore treated) the delivery drivers as employees, not as independent contractors. At least, in our view, an impartial jury, applying the proper standard, could reasonably so find.