Opinion ID: 1401684
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Nature of Employment Relationship

Text: Boone asserts that the district court erred when it determined that he was an at-will employee and granted the summary judgments in favor of Frontier Refining on his employment contract claims. He argues that Frontier Refining made oral representations to him which changed his employment status from at-will to continued. Boone also maintains that an implied contract for continued employment arose by virtue of statements made in Frontier Refining's performance appraisal forms and its employment manual. Frontier Refining contends that the district court's decisions on Boone's employment contract claims were correct. We agree with Frontier Refining. In Wyoming, employment relationships are presumed to be at-will. Davis v. Wyoming Medical Center, Inc., 934 P.2d 1246, 1249 (Wyo.1997); Loghry v. Unicover Corporation, 878 P.2d 510, 512 (Wyo.1994). In an at-will employment relationship, either the employer or the employee may terminate the relationship at any time, for any reason or for no reason at all. Wilder v. Cody Country Chamber of Commerce, 868 P.2d 211, 217 (Wyo.1994). The at-will presumption may be rebutted by a showing that the parties entered into an express or implied agreement which prohibited the employer from discharging the employee without just cause. Brodie v. General Chemical Corporation, 934 P.2d 1263, 1265 (Wyo.1997); Davis, 934 P.2d at 1249. Express contracts and implied contracts for continued employment are equally enforceable. Wilder, 868 P.2d at 217. An express contract for continued employment exists when the terms of the agreement are declared by the parties in writing or verbally. 868 P.2d at 216. An implied contract for continued employment is created by a mutual agreement and intent to promise which is found in the acts or conduct of the party sought to be bound. Id. Employment contracts which are set out in employee handbooks or policies are implied contracts. 868 P.2d at 217. We consider first Boone's claim that Frontier Refining made statements during his job interview which created an oral contract for continued employment. Boone testified at his deposition that Frontier Refining told him that he would possibly be chosen for a management or supervisory position within a short period of time after he began his employment with the company. Frontier Refining also apparently stated that Boone would receive regular performance appraisals and pay raises. Boone admitted, however, that he and Frontier Refining did not discuss why or under what circumstances his employment could be terminated. The statements made by Frontier Refining during Boone's interview did not create a contract for continued employment. Its statement that Boone would possibly be chosen for a management position within a short period of time after his employment commenced did not rise to the level of being a promise, and it certainly did not create a contract for continued employment. Likewise, Frontier Refining's statement that Boone would receive regular performance appraisals and pay raises did not constitute a promise of job security. See Terry v. Pioneer Press, Inc., 947 P.2d 273, 276 (Wyo. 1997). Boone also claims that he and Frontier Refining had an understanding that he would be employed as long as he accomplished the work that was expected of him. As evidence of this understanding, he points to Frontier Refining's statement that he would possibly be chosen for a management position. In Wilder, a discharged employee stated that his employer had made an explicit oral promise that he would be employed for as long as he accomplished the work that was required of him. 868 P.2d at 218. We ruled that, under the facts presented there, a disputed issue of material fact existed as to whether or not the parties had entered into an oral contract for continued employment. 868 P.2d at 218-19. There is an important distinction between the facts of Wilder and the facts of this case. Unlike the employer in Wilder, Frontier Refining did not promise Boone that he would be employed as long as he did his job. In fact, Boone admitted that there was no discussion during his job interview about the circumstances under which his employment could be terminated. Boone simply assumed that he had job security. Boone's subjective belief that he could not be discharged unless just cause existed was insufficient to create a contract for continued employment. See Allen v. Safeway Stores Incorporated, 699 P.2d 277, 282 (Wyo.1985). The district court correctly determined that the parties did not enter into an oral contract for continued employment. We turn now to the statements in the performance appraisal form. Frontier Refining's performance appraisal form stated: The purpose of performance feedback and appraisal at Frontier . . . is to improve each employee's productivity and long-range value to the Company. Performance appraisal consists of a formal evaluation of current performance and a plan for future improvement. It is Company policy that a performance appraisal will be conducted at least once a year for each employee. A supervisor or employee may request that the period be shorter in order to document improvement. This form is to be filled out by the direct supervisor of the employee. It is generally recommended that the supervisor obtain feedback from the employee and any other sources prior to completing this form. In certain instances, statements made in the context of a performance appraisal can give rise to an implied contract for continued employment. See Davis, 934 P.2d 1246; Lincoln v. Wackenhut Corporation, 867 P.2d 701 (Wyo.1994). A contract for continued employment is not formed, however, if the statements do not manifest an intent on the employer's part to create an employment relationship in which the employee may be discharged only for cause. Terry, 947 P.2d at 275-76. Frontier Refining's performance appraisal form did not address termination in any manner. It simply indicated that Frontier Refining intended to use the performance appraisal process as a tool to enhance its employees' job performances. Better job performance increases an employee's value to his employer regardless of whether the employment relationship is at-will or continued. The performance appraisal form did not manifest an intent by Frontier Refining to include job security as a part of its employment relationship with its employees. Boone also contends that Frontier Refining's employment manual created an implied contract for continued employment. The employment manual included procedures for disciplining and discharging employees. Boone claims that Frontier Refining breached the implied employment contract by failing to follow the discharge procedures outlined in the employment manual. The facts of the case at bar are somewhat different from those in our typical employment handbook cases. Boone admitted that Frontier Refining did not give him the employment manual and that he did not read it. He stated that he had seen the manual but that he could not remember when or under what circumstances he saw it. Tommy Woznick, a Frontier Refining manager, averred that the manual was distributed only to members of management and some supervisory employees and that Boone was not a manager or a supervisor at Frontier Refining. The district court determined that, because the employment manual was not widely distributed, it did not apply to Boone's employment and did not create an implied contract for continued employment. Boone directs us to the case of Bear v. Volunteers of America, Wyoming, Inc., 964 P.2d 1245 (Wyo.1998), in support of his claim that the employment manual gave rise to an implied contract for continued employment even though it was not distributed to most of Frontier Refining's employees. In Bear, a majority of the Wyoming Supreme Court concluded that a disclaimer in Volunteers of America's employment manual prevented the implication of a contract for continued employment even though Bear claimed that she did not receive the disclaimer with the rest of her handbook. 964 P.2d at 1251-52. The Bear Court relied on a New Jersey Supreme Court case entitled Nicosia v. Wakefern Food Corporation, 136 N.J. 401, 643 A.2d 554 (1994), in reaching its decision. 964 P.2d at 1251. In Nicosia, the court held that the relationship between the employer and the employee was governed by the entire employment handbook even though the employee may have received only a portion of the handbook. 643 A.2d at 557-58. The New Jersey Supreme Court emphasized that the employer had widely distributed the entire handbook among its employees. 643 A.2d at 557-59. By contrast, the uncontradicted evidence in this case established that Frontier Refining did not routinely distribute the employment manual to its nonsupervisory employees. Accordingly, the Bear case is not applicable to this case. Other jurisdictions have considered the issue of what effect an employment handbook, which was not generally distributed to employees, has on the employment relationship. See, e.g., Carbone v. Atlantic Richfield Company, 204 Conn. 460, 528 A.2d 1137, 1142-43 (1987); Cederstrand v. Lutheran Brotherhood, 263 Minn. 520, 117 N.W.2d 213, 220-22 (1962). The courts in Carbone and Cederstrand applied a contract formation analysis to determine whether the parties intended to enter into a contract. Id. The Wyoming Supreme Court recently utilized a similar analysis in Bouwens v. Centrilift, 974 P.2d 941, 946 (Wyo.1999), to determine whether a handbook disclaimer was effective. We conclude that such an analysis is the appropriate method for determining the issue presented here. The basic elements of a contract are offer, acceptance, and consideration. Bouwens, 974 P.2d at 946; Miller v. Miller, 664 P.2d 39, 40 (Wyo.1983). Our concern in this case is with the question of whether Frontier Refining's employment manual constituted an offer. An offer is `a manifestation of assent to enter into a bargain.' Bouwens, 974 P.2d at 946 (quoting 1 E. Allan Farnsworth, Farnsworth on Contracts § 3.3., at 163 (1990)). This Court looks at the external or objective manifestations of the parties' intentions as revealed by their actions. Id. We determine whether a reasonable man in the position of the offeree would have believed that the other party intended to make an offer. See id. Frontier Refining's employment manual was not generally available to its work force. Only managers and some supervisors were given manuals. Boone was not given a manual, did not read the manual, and consequently could not have relied on its terms. A reasonable person in Boone's position would not have considered the undistributed employment manual to be an offer. The district court correctly concluded that the employment manual did not alter Boone's status as an at-will employee. The district court's decisions granting summary judgments in favor of Frontier Refining on Boone's employment contract claims were proper.