Court Opinion

ID: 9591154
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 00:02:37.708904+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:01:07.721591
License: Public Domain

*872THOMAS, Justice,
dissenting.
I agree with the dissenting opinion of Chief Justice Cardine. If I count the votes correctly, it would seem that three justices do not agree on the majority disposition invoking promissory estoppel; four justices agree that there was no employment contract; and three justices agree that the summary judgment should be reversed and the case remanded for trial. There are not many moments of comfort in the life of a judge, but I find one of those in the fact that I do not have to develop the jury instructions in this case.
In prior cases, this court has critiqued employee handbooks in the context of their effect in structuring an employment contract as distinguished from an employment at will. Leithead v. American Colloid Company, 721 P.2d 1059 (Wyo.1986); Alexander v. Phillips Oil Company, 707 P.2d 1385 (Wyo.1985); and Mobil Coal Producing, Inc. v. Parks, 704 P.2d 702 (Wyo. 1985). In this instance, Mobil Coal Producing, Inc. obtained a signed statement from McDonald that his employment was terminable at the will of either party. The handbook contained an express disclaimer of its status as an employment contract. As Chief Justice Cardine notes in his dissent, “Mobil did all it could by its disclaimer to assure there was not a contract of employment.” Indeed, what more could it have done.
Now, having done its best to have its conduct comport with the prior decisions of this court, Mobil finds that, in any event, anything it may say in the employee handbook can become a binding promise under the doctrine of promissory estoppel. I apologize to my readers for being obtuse, but I cannot distinguish that from the effect of a contract, although the majority concludes that there is no contract. I fear that corporate America, as it lives in the state of Wyoming, will be forced to conclude that the court is toying with it in some cruel and peculiar game of cat and mouse. In my judgment, we offered guidance in the earlier employee at will cases and, now, when confronted with an employer who followed that advice, we should not say that we really did not mean to adhere to our earlier guidance.
I would affirm the summary judgment in this case.