Court Opinion

ID: 9791082
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 02:05:00.483893+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:33.865375
License: Public Domain

Hill, J.
(dissenting)—I deem the result of the majority opinion desirable, but I regretfully dissent because of my conviction that the court is again legislating—skillfully, graciously, and in a righteous cause, but nonetheless legislating.
At the time the superior court entered the judgment, dismissing the action by David Lau’s discharged employees, it had no alternative if it applied the then law of this state.
It was then clearly established that, in the absence of a contract of employment for a specific period or applicable legislation, either the. employer or the employee could terminate the employment at will. Lasser v. Grunbaum Bros. *847Furniture Co. (1955), 46 Wn. (2d) 408, 281 P. (2d) 832; Rohda v. Boen (1945), 45 Wn. (2d) 553, 276 P. (2d) 586; Davidson v. Mackall-Paine Veneer Co. (1928), 149 Wash. 685, 271 Pac. 878.
The trial court applied that rule and held that Mr. Lau could discharge his employees at will. Concededly, absent any contractural or legislative restriction, that would be true.
The majority reverses the trial court, saying that there is a legislative restriction which prohibits discharging a person because of membership in a union.
If there were such a statute, it need only be pointed out in a very brief opinion. Two score and more pages are required to explain why RCW 49.32.020, set out in full on page 4 of the majority opinion, accomplishes the same purpose as the labor-management laws of other states.
Quite properly, collective bargaining agreements, civil service legislation, and anti-discrimination statutes have greatly limited the freedom of employers, both private and public, to hire and fire at will. In the vast domain covered by the federal-labor-management legislation, the jurisdiction of the federal agencies and courts is exclusive.
State-labor-management acts in many states have further limited the rights of employers and have specifically made unlawful the discharge of an employee because of his or her union membership or activity. The usual format of such legislation is, in one section, to state that employees shall have the right to form, join, or assist labor organizations; and, then, to provide in a succeeding section that it shall be an unfair labor practice for an employer individually or in concert with others to interfere with, restrain, or coerce his employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in the preceding section.5
*848This is as it should be—a legislative enactment, direct and unmistakably clear to employers and employees rather than an inference and a conclusion tortured out of a section which is no more than a declaration of policy in a statute dealing with injunctions in labor disputes.
This matter of how to limit an employer’s right to discharge at will, so as to protect an employee’s right to join a union and be active in it, is one to be handled by the legislature prospectively, and not by the court retroactively.
I would affirm the trial court because it properly applied the law as it existed at the time the plaintiffs were discharged by Mr. Lau and at the time of trial. The law will be changed only when this opinion becomes effective, and then retroactively to the benefit of the plaintiffs and to the detriment of Mr. Lau.
Weaver and Ott, JJ., concur with Hill, J.
April. 23, 1965. Petition for rehearing denied.

For a partial list of the states using this format in labor-management legislation see Colo. Rev. Stat. (1953), §§ 80-5-4, 80-5-6(1) (a); Revised Laws of Hawaii (1955), §§ 90-5, 90-7(a); Gen. Stat. of Kansas (1949), §§ 44-803, 44-808(1); Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. (1959), chapter 150A, §§ 3, 4(1); Minn. Stat. (1961), §§ 179.10, 179.12(3); North Dakota Century Code Ann. (Supp. 1963), §§ 34-12-02, 34-12-03(a); Purdon’s *848Penn. Stat. Ann. (1950), Labor §§ 211.5, 211.6(a); Utah Code Ann. (1953), §§ 34-1-7, 34-1-8 (a) ; Wis. Stat. Ann. (1957), §§ 111.04, 111.06(a). See also Laws of Puerto Rico Ann. (1955), Labor §§ 65, 69(1) (a). Same effect,, different format: Conn. Gen. Stat. Ann. (1958), §§ 31-104, 31-105(4) (5); McKinney’s Consolidated Laws of New York Ann. (1948), Labor §§ 703, 704(4) (5); Gen. Laws of Rhode Island (1957), §§ 28-7-12, 28-7-13(4) (5).