Opinion ID: 2515831
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: issues

Text: [¶ 2] Hoff presents the following issues for our review: 1. Does public policy prevent a public agency from firing a competent dedicated public employee because the employee was properly performing his duties to protect the public, in order to placate influential interests who did not want the employee to properly perform his duties? 2. Is it error for a district court to grant summary judgment on behalf of an employer holding that an employee handbook did not create an implied contract of employment, in a situation where the employee handbook is ambiguous, the handbook contains clear provisions for the protection of employees, and there is testimony from both parties that a contract of employment was intended to be and was created? 3. Is a public agency immune from a claim for breach of an implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing asserted by a discharged employee if there is evidence that there was a special relationship of trust and reliance between the employee and the agency? The Health Department presents this statement of the issues: 1. Does a public agency have a right to replace a director in a policy making position at the start of a new term of the board? 2. Although hired without benefit of any employment manual, was there an implied contract of employment that prohibited the termination of the Director of Environmental Health? 3. Does Appellant fail to state a claim for breach of the implied covenant of fair dealing and violation of public policy as a matter of law? 4. Can a plaintiff overcome a properly supported motion for summary judgment with his own affidavit containing inadmissible hearsay and opinion testimony?