An employee is terminated for publicly cursing at and insulting a member of upper management. The employee sues, charging the termination violates HR’s own written policies. Who won this real-life case? The facts:
In a heated budget meeting that included several people, the employee called the CFO a “stupid son of a b****” and other similar names. After the meeting, the employee was summarily fired for insubordination and detrimental behavior.

The employee sued for wrongful termination. His case hinged mainly on a passage in the employee handbook: “Employees who are discourteous or impolite to others will receive two warnings about such behavior and will be considered for termination after a third violation.” So, the employee argued in court, company policy stated that he should get two warnings before being terminated.

The employer said:
The handbook was not a contract, and just set guidelines and options for handling situations. And since the employer was in an at-will state where firing was permitted for any non-discriminatory reason, the termination was legal.

Who won the case?

Answer: The company.

Why: A judge ruled the handbook in fact wasn’t a contract with an at-will employee.  A “contract,” has to name a specific employee in the document.

So the company won, but only after a long, expensive court battle.

The case is a good illustration of the kinds of headaches company handbooks can cause when they’re open to interpretation. How might the handbook in this case have been written to avoid the mess altogether? At least two possibilities:

• The handbook could have stated specifically that the discipline approach outlined was an optional one – or a guideline – and not a mandatory procedure.
• Maybe there was no need to outline the approach at all. If at-will employees are treated equally and disciplined the same way for the same offenses, a “policy” might not be needed. Besides, evidence of fair treatment is more crucial than what’s written in a handbook.

Try to keep those factors in mind when someone insists that the handbook should cover all situations.

Cite: Denis v. P&L Campbell Co.

Tags: handbook, HR, policies, termination