Business Law: Employment Contracts Chad Jenkins

1. What is an implied contract? A contract that is implied from the conduct of the parties.

Terms or requirements inside the contract must be met, these requirements are:

a. The plaintiff furnished some service or property.

b. The plaintiff expected to be paid for that service or property, and the defendant

knew or should have known that payment was expected.

c. The defendant had a chance to reject the services or property and did not.

2. Explain why an employer might want to employ at will employees rather than those with

employment contracts. Describe some potential problems with the following sentence

included in an employee hand book: “Employees that have a good attendance record and

have a good review will be retained and advance.”

The reason an employer might want to employ at will employees rather than those with

contracts is because they won’t be legally obligated. Also “at-will” an employer is

legally allowed to hire and fire employees at will, with or without cause. The following

sentence in the employee hand book is ambiguous. It doesn’t give clear expectations of

what a good attendance record is and also promises that those who do attain a good

attendance record and review will be retained and advanced. Promises shouldn’t be made

in an employee manual which may create an implied-in-fact employment contract. This

statement could jeopardize the companies “at-will” policy and the court could determine

this is an implied contract.

3. Rewrite the sentence in number 2 above, so it is more acceptable given the article.

First a disclaimer should be written in the beginning of the employee manual stating the

following: This policy manual describes the basic personnel policies and practices of our

Business Law: Employment Contracts Chad Jenkins

Company. You should understand that the manual does not modify our Company’s ‘at

will’ employment doctrine or provide employees with any kind of contractual rights.

Secondly, I would trash the whole sentence and list the Company’s attendance policy and

be specific. For example, “During employment the team member must follow a ten point

attendance policy. Each time an employee calls-in a point will be assessed, and if the

employee is late a half point will be assessed. This is no-fault attendance policy, which

means an employee can call out without any reason with the understanding points will be

assessed. The point is on a rolling calendar and one year from the time of the attendance

violation, the point will be removed. If an employee is assessed 10 points during this

time he will be terminated from employment. The second part of the sentence, I would

be specific and state, “The Company is an equal opportunity employer and may offer

promotions and raises based upon performance, however this is not contractual and the

company does reserve the right to employee, promote, and give compensation to who

they want.