Court Opinion

ID: 9609992
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 03:35:15.070458+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:26:29.881135
License: Public Domain

ARMIJO, Judge, specially concurring. 23. I concur in the result. However, I do not join in the analysis to the extent it suggests that Defendants would not breach an implied contract not to fire Plaintiff for reasons relating to her illness or medical leave if they terminated her employment for “any other reason.” As this Court noted in Maxwell v. Ross Hyden Motors, Inc. ., 104 N.M. 470, 472, 722 P.2d 1192, 1194 (Ct.App.1986), “[t]he rule that an employee is terminable at-will, either without cause or for a specific reason, has undergone substantial erosion.” Because there are disputed issues of material fact concerning the existence and scope of an implied contract, I would not reach the question of whether or not Defendants breached that contract. It is for the trier of fact to determine whether there exists such a contract and to define its terms. 24. Moreover, the evidence which accompanies Defendants’ motion for summary judgment does not show that there were any reasons for terminating Plaintiffs employment which are unrelated to her illness or medical leave. In this respect, this ease is distinguishable from Sanderson v. First Security Leasing Co., 844 P.2d 303 (Utah 1992). In Sanderson, the employer presented evidence that the stated reason for the employee’s termination was “ ‘[unsatisfactory performance,’ ” and that the employee’s illness and sick leave occurred at the same time that a company audit revealed numerous problems in the department he was assigned to manage. Id. at 304-05. Thus, the Utah court was in a better position to rule on the employer’s contention that, even if there was an implied contract not to use illness or sick leave as a basis for termination, the employee could still be fired for unsatisfactory performance without breaching that contract. Where there is no showing in the record before us of such an alternative basis for Plaintiffs termination, however, I do not believe this Court is in a position to draw any conclusions with respect to any legal effect that an alternative basis for termination might have.