Opinion ID: 1282292
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: blair's suit

Text: Blair sued PMI and claimed that PMI failed to follow company procedure specified in PMI's employee handbook for disciplinary action and termination of employment. Blair further claimed that PMI fired her without good cause, and, therefore, wrongfully terminated her employment. Blair also alleged that PMI's conduct in discharging her constituted a malicious termination of employment. The district court sustained PMI's demurrer to the allegation regarding malicious termination of Blair's employment. In response to Blair's allegations, PMI asserted that, because Blair was an employee at will, there was no restriction, such as a good cause prerequisite, on its right to fire Blair. When PMI objected to Blair's interrogatories concerning identity of other PMI employees who were investigated for possible drug abuse or who left PMI's employment after the investigation, Blair moved for an order requiring PMI to answer the interrogatories. Blair also requested documents from PMI regarding its drug investigation. After PMI refused to supply the documents, Blair sought an order for production of the investigative documents. The court denied Blair's motion for compulsory discovery, and refused to compel PMI to answer the interrogatories or produce the requested documents. At trial, over Blair's hearsay objection, the transcription of the stenographer's shorthand notes made during Blair's interview by the PMI investigator was received in evidence. Additionally, a PMI manager testified that, contrary to Blair's assertion, employees were told that the first page of the employee manual expressed company policy and further testified that PMI employees were never told to disregard paragraph 4 on page 1 of the employee manual, the statement concerning the at will relationship and discharge from employment without cause. The court instructed the jury on various aspects of an employment contract, including the elements of a contract and an employer's right to fire an employee without good cause for such termination of employment if the contract involves an employment at will. The court also instructed that an employee handbook may be a part of the contract of employment and that provisions of the employment contract, including an employee handbook, may be orally modified by the employer. Consequently, the alternative but dichotomous factual questions submitted to the jury concerning termination of Blair's employment were whether the initial and oral contract for employment at will existed and whether PMI had modified the at-will contract so that cause was necessary for termination of Blair's employment. In response to those questions, the jury returned a general verdict in favor of PMI. Therefore, in view of the questions submitted to the jury, the general verdict implicitly contains the finding that Blair was an employee at will and not an employee whose modified contract of employment could be terminated only for cause.