Opinion ID: 437145
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: honest dissatisfaction

Text: 3 The jury found that there was an employment contract between Wood and Carboline Company whereby Wood was employed as a regional manager for Carboline. The jury found, further, that under the terms of the employment contract Wood was entitled to be retained in his employment only so long as his work was satisfactory. Thus, if Carboline in good faith found Wood's work unsatisfactory, it would have had justifiable grounds for demoting or firing him. 4 The original version of the interrogatory in question, No. 3, and the accompanying charge to the jury read: 5 Interrogatory No. 3. Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that Plaintiff was constructively discharged from his management position by Defendant? 6 In connection with this Interrogatory, you are instructed that constructive discharge occurs when a person contracts to fill a particular position and the employer unjustifiably makes a material change in the employee's duties or unjustifiably makes a significant reduction in the rank of that employee. For example, if the employer resorts to various devices or engages in a course of conduct designed to induce the employee to abandon his service, or to make performance by that employee impossible, you may find a constructive discharge. 7 In this case, a change in Plaintiff's duties or rank is unjustifiable only if the Defendant was not honestly dissatisfied with Plaintiff's work. The burden of proof is on Plaintiff to show by a preponderance of the evidence that Defendant was not honestly dissatisfied with Plaintiff's performance as regional manager. A constructive discharge is justifiable if the employer acts in good faith and is honestly dissatisfied with the employee's work, if the dissatisfaction is real and not pretended or the result of a dishonest design. (Emphasis added.) 8 After an objection was made to the above interrogatory, the district judge replaced it with the following interrogatory and instruction: 9 Interrogatory No. 3. Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that Defendant was not honestly dissatisfied with Plaintiff's performance as regional manager at the time Plaintiff was removed as regional manager? 10 In connection with this Interrogatory, you are instructed that a demotion in Plaintiff's duties or rank is unjustifiable only if the Defendant was not honestly dissatisfied with Plaintiff's work. The burden of proof is on Plaintiff to show by a preponderance of the evidence that Defendant was not honestly dissatisfied with Plaintiff's performance as regional manager. A demotion is justifiable if the employer acts in good faith and is honestly dissatisfied with the employee's work, if the dissatisfaction is real and not pretended or the result of a dishonest design. (Emphasis added.) 11 As is apparent, the italicized portions of each instruction are the same. The essential difference is that the original interrogatory asked whether Wood was constructively discharged, while the amended interrogatory asked if Carboline Company was honestly dissatisfied with Wood's performance. 12 Appellant argues that the evidence at trial conclusively established that Wood was performing satisfactorily and that Carboline was not honestly dissatisfied with his performance. It follows, therefore, that Carboline's course of action ... equalled a 'constructive discharge' rather than a justifiable one. Wood complains that the very shift in language from constructive discharge to honest dissatisfaction misled the jury, since appellant's case was tried on a constructive discharge theory. Appellant's argument thus comes down to the claim that, because (in his estimation) the evidence showed that Carboline was not honestly dissatisfied, the interrogatory itself must have misled the jury, or the jury would not have found that Carboline was honestly dissatisfied. 13 After reviewing the second version of the interrogatory and instructions given to the jury, we find that it was not misleading, even though it did not contain the magic words constructive discharge. The test is not whether the charge is faultless in every particular, but whether the jury was misled in any way and whether it had understanding of the issues and its duty to determine those issues. Borel v. Fibreboard Paper Products Corp., 493 F.2d 1076, 1100 (5th Cir.1973), cert. denied, 419 U.S. 869, 95 S.Ct. 127, 42 L.Ed.2d 107 (1974). The import of the original interrogatory and instructions that Wood's counsel approved, and the interrogatory and instructions actually relied on by the jury, is the same: a demotion or constructive discharge is justifiable if the employer acts in good faith and is honestly dissatisfied with the employee's work. By arguing that the original version of the interrogatory was correct, appellant admits that for a constructive discharge to have occurred Carboline must have unjustifiably reduced his rank, and that if Carboline was honestly dissatisfied with his work, reduction in rank was not unjustifiable. The pertinent question was whether Carboline was honestly dissatisfied, since any discharge, constructive or not, would have been justifiable if Carboline was. That question was clearly answered in favor of Carboline by the jury in responding to interrogatory No. 3. That is enough. There is no error. 14