Court Opinion

ID: 9639021
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 16:01:37.075958+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:43:55.489318
License: Public Domain

ZAPPALA, Justice,
concurring.
I join in the holding of the majority opinion that the uncommunicated policy of severance pay was not contractually binding upon the employer. I perceive an important distinction between the policy and an employer’s handbook that is disseminated to the employees. Because this Court has not yet addressed the issue as to whether an employee handbook unilaterally issued by an employer constitutes part of an employee’s contract of employment, the dicta in the majority’s opinion may be construed prematurely as controlling.
The majority states that “A handbook distributed to employees as inducement for employment may be an offer and its acceptance a contract.” (Majority slip opinion at 152). Having concluded that the uncommunicated personnel manual could not be equated with a handbook, the *497majority’s statement is of no precedential value. I write then only to emphasize that the issue of the effect of the distribution an employee handbook has not been resolved by this Court and that I would reserve discussion until the matter is squarely before us.