M Civ JI 110.06 Wrongful Discharge: Employment Policies or Terms or Conditions of the Employment Contract

The plaintiff claims that the following were [ terms or conditions of the employment relationship / and / or / defendant’s employment policies ]:

(a) that the employment relationship can be terminated by the employer if the employer is dissatisfied with the [ employee / or / employee’s services ].

(b) that the employment relationship can be terminated by the employer if the employer has good or just cause.

(c) [ Describe special conditions or performance standards ].

(d) [ Describe other terms or conditions or policies ].

The plaintiff has the burden of proving the [ term / condition / terms and conditions ] which [ he / she ] claims [ was / were ] part of the employment relationship [ and / or / defendant’s employment policies ].

Note on Use

This instruction should be given only if there is a factual issue as to the terms or conditions of the employment contract or the employment policy involved.

Delete any subsection that is not applicable.

Subsections c. and d. are included to recognize that it may be necessary to instruct the jury on terms or conditions or policies that do not fall under either subsection a. or subsection b. The court may describe in subsection c. special conditions or performance standards, e.g., where continued employment is conditioned on the employee’s meeting sales or production quotas. Cf. Bullock v Automobile Club of Michigan, 432 Mich 472; 444 NW2d 114 (1989), reh’g denied, 433 Mich 1201 (1989), cert denied, 493 US 1072; 110 S Ct 1118; 107 L Ed 2d 1024 (1990); Farrell v Automobile Club of Michigan, 155 Mich App 378; 399 NW2d 531 (1986).

The court may describe in subsection d. job security provisions that do not fall into any of the usual categories, e.g., “You will be employed as long as the Smith family owns a majority of the company’s stock and you are doing the job.” See Damrow v Thumb Cooperative Terminal, Inc, 126 Mich App 354; 337 NW2d 338 (1983); lv denied, 418 Mich 899 (1983).

These instructions do not define what constitutes an “employer’s policy.” Additional instructions may be necessary if there is a dispute over whether a particular document, statement, or practice amounts to a policy of the employer.

History

M Civ JI 110.06 was added December 1990.