Court Opinion

ID: 9736271
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 18:49:13.938892+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:27:05.414128
License: Public Domain

Mr. JUSTICE GREEN, dissenting: I dissent. The undisputed evidence here was that prior to January 1, 1975, plaintiff had been employed by defendant pursuant to term contracts of employment. The latest introduced into evidence had been for one year. These contracts had provided for duration of employment and salary and bonus arrangement, and some contracts had defined plaintiff’s duties and provided for certain insurance benefits for plaintiff. On December 11, 1974, Mr. Yaple, a new manager for defendant, presented plaintiff with a memorandum purporting to be a “salary and bonus arrangement” for the calendar year 1975. After Mr. Yaple’s refusal to modify the proposed terms, plaintiff continued with his duties and in early January 1975, told Mr. Yaple that he was “ready to go to work — to continue to work for the balance of the year.” Defendant accepted plaintiff’s services for awhile thereafter. I consider the contract by which plaintiff worked to have been formed not merely by the document of December 11, 1974, but also by the enumerated surrounding circumstances. I recognize the reluctance of Illinois courts of review to permit an employment contract to be found to imply that it is for a term rather than at will. However, in Atwood v. Curtiss Candy Co. (1959), 22 Ill. App. 2d 369, 161 N.E.2d 355, cited by the majority, the correspondence which formed the employment contract in issue there stated specifically that the employment would not be for any particular period of time. I. agree that under the case law of this State, an employment contract is at the will of the parties unless there is an agreement as to a certain term and that the existence in the contract to measure the compensation by a particular unit of time or at a certain rate during a particular period of time is insufficient, of itself, to make the contract one for a term rather than at will. (Davis v. Fidelity Fire Insurance Co. (1904), 208 Ill. 375,70 N.E. 359; Orr v. Ward (1874), 73 Ill. 318; Pfund v. Zimmerman (1862), 29 Ill. 269; Long v. Arthur Rubloff & Co. (1975), 27 Ill. App. 3d 1013, 327 N.E.2d 346.) But, in Davis v. Englestein (1931), 263 Ill. App. 57, the court held that the period upon which the employee’s compensation was to be based was of significance in determining whether the contract was for that term or at will. There, the contract in issue arose from conversations, the content of which was in dispute. In Grauer v. Valve & Primer Corp. (1977), 47 Ill. App. 3d 152, 154, 361 N.E.2d 863, 865, an employment contract was formed by correspondence between the parties which did not expressly set forth a term of its duration. The appellate court affirmed a circuit court determination that the documents created a contract for one year by inference. The original letter from the employer offered the employee a commission of .75% on sales of the firm with a “draw” of $1600 per month. After the employee rejected the offer the employer sent another letter stating that the employee would be guaranteed $22,500 for the year and stated that the employer would “review it annually.” The employee then accepted the proposal. The appellate court held the inferences from the subsequent letter in regard to the guarantee and the annual review to require a determination that the contract was for a one-year term. In Chambers v. John T. Shayne & Co. (1961), 32 Ill. App. 2d 16, 176 N.E.2d 645, the existence in an oral employment contract for the employee to be paid an annual bonus based upon sales was held to have probative value in determining whether the contract was for a yearly term or was at will. Here, neither the memorandum of December 11, 1974, nor the conversations of the parties indicated that plaintiff had any guarantee similar to that in Grauer, but the defendant did agree to an annual review of the salary and bonus arrangement. As in Chambers there was a provision for an annual bonus based upon sales. Furthermore, here, in the conversation by which the contract was formed, plaintiff stated that he was ready to “continue to work for the balance of the year,” and defendant’s manager accepted him as an employee after that statement. In Grauer, the original memorandum from the employer to the employee described itself as being a “Salary Contract for 1973.” (47 Ill. App. 3d 152, 154, 361 N.E.2d 863, 865.) Here, the original document was stated to be a “salary and bonus arrangement” for the 1975 calendar year. The Grauer court did not refer to this aspect but, at least here, the designation on the document would indicate that it was not intended to cover all of the terms of the employment relationship involved. Even without considering the prior dealings of the parties, the foregoing aspects of the original memorandum accompanied by the manner in which the contract was formed strongly indicate ambiguity at least as to whether the contract was-for a-term. This ambiguity as to term makes permissible a consideration of the surrounding circumstances. (Martindell v. Lake Shore National Bank (1958), 15 Ill. 2d 272,154 N.E.2d 683.) When the foregoing factors are combined with the extrinsic circumstances that the parties had previously contracted for term employment, more recently on a yearly basis, I can only conclude that they intended to continue this relationship for another year and did not intend to cover, by the December 11, 1974, memorandum, those aspects of the employment that would not change. For instance, I conclude that the arrangements in regard to insurance were intended to remain the same. The fact that defendant had a new manager and that a less comprehensive and formal memorandum than that of the past was used does not indicate a desire for change in the relationship. Although the precedent of prior decisions makes the issue complicated, I conclude that the granting of the directed verdict was error. I would reverse.