Elliott v. Board of Trustees of Montgomery County Community College

655 A.2d 46, 104 Md. App. 93, 10 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 762, 1995 Md. App. LEXIS 56
CourtCourt of Special Appeals of Maryland
DecidedMarch 6, 1995
DocketNo. 1002
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 655 A.2d 46 (Elliott v. Board of Trustees of Montgomery County Community College) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Special Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Elliott v. Board of Trustees of Montgomery County Community College, 655 A.2d 46, 104 Md. App. 93, 10 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 762, 1995 Md. App. LEXIS 56 (Md. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

CATHELL, Judge.

Appellant, James Elliott, appeals from the judgment of the Circuit Court for Montgomery County (Cave, J., presiding), granting appellee’s, the Board of Trustees of Montgomery County Community College’s, Motion for Summary Judgment in this breach of employment contract case. Appellant presents the following questions on appeal:

A. Did Montgomery College’s Policies and Procedures Manual create an enforceable employment contract between Montgomery College and its employee, James Elliott!?]
B. Did Montgomery College clearly and conspicuously disclaim any intent to create an enforceable contract by virtue of the Montgomery College Policies and Procedures Manual!?]
C. Did the trial Court err in finding, as a matter of law, that Montgomery College did not breach the contract created by its Employee Handbook!?]
D. Was the Trial Court precluded by the Maryland Administrative Procedures Act from allowing a jury to determine whether Mr. Elliott was terminated for cause!?]

Appellant was hired by Montgomery County Community College (the College) in 1979. He was promoted to a supervisory position in 1988. In 1992, a female employee charged appellant with sexual harassment. As a result, appellant was disciplined, an action that included a demotion and a transfer to the College’s Germantown campus. A “last chance letter” was issued to appellant, which provided, in pertinent part:

It is very important that you understand that these actions are taken in the context of giving you a last chance to remain employed at Montgomery College. Any violation of ... College ... policy ... and procedures will lead to immediate disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal.

In February of 1993, appellant was charged with violating College policy by leaving work early without permission. The [98]*98College’s “Policies/Procedures Manual” (P & P Manual) provides that employees are “[t]o report to work on time and stay until the end of the work day....” It is undisputed that appellant left his shift up to one hour early on four separate occasions. Appellant claimed that his immediate supervisor, John Day, gave him permission to leave work whenever he had completed his duties, even if this occurred before the end of his shift. Day claimed that he only gave appellant permission to do this during the “winter term” and the four occasions on which appellant was charged with leaving early took place after the “winter term” was over.

Day’s supervisor filed a recommendation with the Director of Human Resources that appellant’s employment be terminated. The Director approved the recommendation and notified appellant that he was terminated, effective April 2, 1993. Appellant filed a Notice of Appeal on March 23, 1993. An appeal hearing was thereafter held before Provost O. Robert Brown on the issue of whether cause existed to discharge appellant. Dr. Brown recommended that the dismissal be upheld and that recommendation was upheld by the Chief Administrative Officer of the College.

Appellant’s supervisor gave him a copy of the P & P Manual to read when he first started working at the College in 1979. Appellant was issued his own P & P Manual when he was promoted to his supervisory position in 1988. That same year, the College issued a new P & P Manual. It is not clear when appellant’s promotion occurred in relation to the distribution of the new manual. A two-page memorandum accompanied the new manual that provided, in part:

The new manual, while similar in content to the old one, has been restructured to make it easier to use and update as follows____

It then listed six numbered paragraphs concerning the use of the manual, a paragraph concerning computer access, and then notes that:

[99]*99The primary purpose of changing the format of the manual is to make it easier for you to use it as a reference document.

Conspicuously absent from the memorandum is any acknowledgement that the manual modification also changed the inherent nature of the employment relationship. No attempt was made to indicate that the new manual provided the following disclaimer in its introduction: “[The manual] does not contain all terms and conditions of employment nor constitute an express or implied employment contract.”

After exhausting his remedies at the College, appellant filed this suit in the circuit court, alleging breach of an employment contract. Appellee filed a Motion for Summary Judgment, including with the motion an affidavit that provided that the handbook containing the disclaimer had been distributed to all employees eligible to receive it in 1988 and, thereafter, to each employee that had since become eligible to receive it. In support of his opposition to appellee’s Motion for Summary Judgment, appellant provided an affidavit in which he stated that he had never seen the disclaimer. At the hearing held on the motion, appellant argued that the disclaimer might not have been distributed to all the College’s employees that were entitled to receive the P & P Manual. The hearing judge reserved ruling on the motion to allow appellant more time for discovery. After appellant failed to provide any evidence that the manual containing the disclaimer had not been distributed as appellee had claimed, the hearing judge granted appellee’s Motion for Summary Judgment.

A. & B.

In Castiglione v. Johns Hopkins Hosp., 69 Md.App. 325, 338, 517 A.2d 786 (1986), we stated:

In Maryland, an employment contract of indefinite duration is considered employment “at will” which, with few exceptions, may be terminated without cause by either party at any time. Page v. Carolina Coach Co., 667 F.2d 1156 (4th Cir.1982); Adler v. American Standard Corp., 291 Md. 31, 432 A.2d 464 (1981). In two limited situations an [100]*100“at will” employee may not be discharged without cause. First, the rule that employment contracts of indefinite duration can be legally terminated at any time is inapplicable where the employee is discharged for exercising constitutionally protected rights.... The second exception [was] adopted by this court in Staggs v. Blue Cross of Maryland, Inc., 61 Md.App. 381, 486 A.2d 798 (1985), cert. denied, 303 Md. 295, 493 A.2d 349 (1985)____ [Citations omitted.]

The exception to the employment at will doctrine that we adopted in Staggs v. Blue Cross of Maryland, 61 Md.App. 381, 486 A.2d 798, cert. denied, 303 Md. 295, 493 A.2d 349 (1985), was that an employee handbook may, in some circumstances, become an unilateral contract. In Staggs, we stated:

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655 A.2d 46, 104 Md. App. 93, 10 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 762, 1995 Md. App. LEXIS 56, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/elliott-v-board-of-trustees-of-montgomery-county-community-college-mdctspecapp-1995.