Motion for summary judgment (by employer) for false imprisonment and breach of contract
NO. ___-_______
Plaintiffs § IN THE DISTRICT COURT
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VS. § _________ COUNTY, TEXAS
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Defendants § ______ JUDICIAL DISTRICT
BRIEF FOR EMPLOYER DEFENDANT RE:
FALSE IMPRISONMENT AND BREACH OF CONTRACT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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INTRODUCTION 1
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Facts 1
B. Causes of Action and Summary of Plaintiff’s Contentions 3
C. Summary of Defendant’s Contentions 4
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NEITHER THE LAW NOR THE UNDISPUTED FACTS IN THIS CASE SUPPORT PLAINTIFF’S CLAIM OF FALSE IMPRISONMENT 5
A. Legal Standard 5
B. The Facts of This Case 5
C. Cases on Point Justify Granting Summary Judgment on This Issue 7
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NEITHER THE LAW NOR THE UNDISPUTED FACTS OF THIS CASE SUPPORT PLAINTIFF’S CLAIMS ALLEGING BREACH OF CONTRACT 9
A. Plaintiff Was an At-Will Employee 10
1. Texas Law Provides Employment Generally At-Will 10
B. Three Defendant Documents Containing Disclaimers Negate
Any Basis for Altering Plaintiff’s At-Will Status 10
1. Job Application Proves Plaintiff Was At-Will Employee 10
2. The Disclaimer in the Policy Manual Conclusively Proves
It Cannot Be a Contract 10
3. Disclaimer in Employee Handbook Conclusively Negates
Any Change in Plaintiff’s At-Will Status 12
C. Generally an Employee Manual Does Not Constitute a Contract 13
D. The Policy Manual Was Not Generally Distributed To Employees and Therefore Could Not Be a Contract 13
E. Even if the Policy Manual Is a Contract, Defendant Complied With the Policy Manual When it Discharged Plaintiff 14
1. Policy Manual Permits Immediate Dismissal for Misconduct
Without the Necessity of Progressive Discipline 14
2. Plaintiff Committed Serious Misconduct 15
a. Plaintiff’s Fraud Justified Immediate Dismissal 15
b. Plaintiff’s Repeated and Significant Violations of Her
Obligational Authority Justified Immediate Dismissal 16
c. Repeated Major Violations of Defendant’s Policies
and Procedures Justified Immediate Dismissal 16
d. Plaintiff’s Misrepresentation of Defendant’s
Assets Justified Immediate Dismissal 17
e. Plaintiff’s Dishonesty With Her Supervisor
Justified Immediate Dismissal 17
f. Plaintiff Was Dishonest With the
Employees she Supervised 17
g. Racial Comments and Disparate Treatment
Justified Immediate Dismissal 18
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PLAINTIFF’S CLAIMS DO NOT SUPPORT THE DAMAGES REQUESTED 20
A. Plaintiff May Not Recover the Damages Requested on a Breach of Contract Claim 20
B. All of Plaintiff’s Economic Damages Were Extinguished as of the Time She Quit Her Employment with [Other Company] 21
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CONCLUSION 23
NO. ___-_______
Plaintiffs § IN THE DISTRICT COURT
§
VS. § _________ COUNTY, TEXAS
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Defendants § ______ JUDICIAL DISTRICT
DEFENDANT’S TRIAL BRIEF
COMES NOW Defendant ____________________ and would show the Court as follows:
I. INTRODUCTION
A. Facts
Plaintiff was employed by Defendant as an Accounts Receivable Supervisor. Plaintiff’s primary job function was to oversee all accounts receivable pertaining to customer accounts in Defendant’s ______________ office and ensure accurate billing. Plaintiff’s duties included, among other things, monitoring all accounts to ensure that Defendant had an accurate picture of which accounts would be collectible and which accounts would have to be written off.
Specifically, Plaintiff was supposed to ensure that payments were received, and if an account was delinquent, that it was turned over to the collection department for collection, and enter write-offs and adjustments. In addition, Plaintiff set reserves so that if an account appeared to be uncollectible, Defendant’s balance sheet would be adjusted accordingly. Plaintiff had a number of her own accounts and supervisory responsibility for three employees who had accounts of their own.
As part of an audit of Defendant’s ____________ office that began in approximately _____________ of 20___, Defendant audited all of the ____________ accounts. The auditor found serious problems with the handling of the _____________ accounts. Plaintiff was informed that Defendant was investigating the ____________ accounts. In _____________ of 20___, the auditor and Plaintiff began having regular meetings concerning the problems with the __________ accounts.
The regular meetings occurred for approximately two months. In ____________ of 20___, Plaintiff took a disability leave.
After Plaintiff took disability leave, the audit continued and revealed that: Plaintiff was guilty of fraud and dishonesty including:
1) lied to supervisors;
2) instructed her staff to lie;
3) forged signatures;
4) back dated letters;
5) had intentionally and repeatedly violated Defendant’s policies; and
6) repeatedly and significantly exceeded her written obligational authority
Further, Plaintiff’s accounts were out of balance by approximately $___,000, requiring a negative adjustment of more than $___,000. Moreover, the evidence will show that Plaintiff intentionally failed to follow Defendant’s procedures. For example, Plaintiff’s obligational authority was $_00.00. Yet, Plaintiff wrote-off amounts in the thousands of dollars. Plaintiff even wrote-off more than $100,000 on one occasion!
Plaintiff supervised one white male employee, one white female and one African-American female. These employees complained about Plaintiff’s dishonest and fraudulent behavior and her discriminatory actions. Plaintiff referred to a Hispanic Defendant employee as a “beaner;” she referred to Asians as “rice eaters;” and she also stated that she knew that a black Defendant employee was a black employee not an Indian because Indians smell.
In addition, [Employee 1], the African-American employee, complained that Plaintiff showed favoritism and discriminated against her. A white female has testified that Plaintiff did discriminate against [Employee 1].
Plaintiff returned to work on ____________ __, 20___. On ____________ __, 20___, Defendant’s management held a meeting with Plaintiff and presented Plaintiff with a written outline of the misconduct that they had uncovered during the audit and gave Plaintiff an opportunity to explain same.
The meeting was conducted in a conference room without a lock on the door. During the meeting, breaks were taken and lunch was brought into the meeting. The Plaintiff was free to leave the meeting at any time and when Plaintiff asked that the meeting be adjourned so that she could pick up her child from day care, the meeting was adjourned.
During that meeting, when Plaintiff attempted to justify what she had done, she contradicted herself and was dishonest. Plaintiff’s dishonesty during the meeting further confirmed management’s conclusion that the Plaintiff was untrustworthy and had intentionally violated Defendant’s policies and procedures. After that meeting, Defendant decided to fire Plaintiff and Plaintiff was terminated on ____________ __, 20___.
Plaintiff was an at-will employee who did not have a contract of employment. Indeed, Plaintiff’s job application specifically states that she is an at-will employee and that no one at Defendant has the authority to alter this at-will status. Further, Defendant’s Policies and Procedures’ Manual—upon which Plaintiff bases her breach of contract claim—specifically provides that employees are at-will employees. Finally, Defendant’s employee handbook also states that all employees are at-will and no one has authority to change the at-will status.
B. Causes of Action and Summary of Plaintiff’s Contentions
Plaintiff has pled two causes of action against Defendant: 1) false imprisonment and 2) a cause of action for breach of contract. The breach of contract claim is based upon the allegation that other supervisors at Defendant allegedly told Plaintiff that employees could not be fired unless Defendant first followed its progressive discipline policy. Plaintiff claims that these statements orally modified her at-will status.
Plaintiff claims that her mistakes and improprieties occurred because that was how she was told to do her job or because she did not receive adequate training. Plaintiff maintains that her dishonesty was simply “little white lies” and that the racial comments were “taken in a way that was not meant. I’ve never said anything to hurt anyone on purpose.”1 Thus, Plaintiff claims that she should have been put on written notice rather than terminated immediately. Plaintiff further claims that the ______________ meeting in a conference room, where she was given a chance to explain her actions, constituted false imprisonment. Plaintiff claims false imprisonment because she was upset by the meeting.
C. Summary of Defendant’s Contentions
Since she was an at-will employee, Defendants could fire Plaintiff at any time for any reason at all. Further, the three written disclaimers Defendant gave to Plaintiff defeat any basis for concluding that her at-will status was modified. Thus, Defendant was entitled to fire Plaintiff immediately. Ruling otherwise would overturn long-standing precedent on this issue. Even assuming that Defendant had to follow the procedures in its policy manual, Defendant did so. The Policy Manual—upon which Plaintiff’s entire contract claim is based—provides that an employee can be immediately terminated for “misconduct.” The definition of misconduct includes fraud, dishonesty, violation of established standards and harassment of another employee because of race. Overwhelming and undisputable evidence shows that Plaintiff committed serious misconduct, including forging documents and lying to: supervisors, employees and customers. The avalanche of evidence proves beyond any doubt that Plaintiff was guilty of misconduct.
In light of the serious nature and numerous instances of misconduct, this Court would create extremely bad public policy if it holds that the Defendant could not immediately discharge the Plaintiff. The misconduct involves issues of honesty, trustworthiness and integrity. Such issues, by definition, cannot be cured by progressive discipline.
To hold otherwise would mean that if an employee brought a gun...
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