Myers v. Department of Agriculture

756 P.2d 1144, 232 Mont. 286, 45 State Rptr. 1056, 28 Wage & Hour Cas. (BNA) 1338, 1988 Mont. LEXIS 172
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedJune 13, 1988
DocketNo. 87-410
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 756 P.2d 1144 (Myers v. Department of Agriculture) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Myers v. Department of Agriculture, 756 P.2d 1144, 232 Mont. 286, 45 State Rptr. 1056, 28 Wage & Hour Cas. (BNA) 1338, 1988 Mont. LEXIS 172 (Mo. 1988).

Opinion

MR. JUSTICE WEBER

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

Mr. Myers filed suit against the defendant in the Eleventh Judicial District, Flathead County, alleging wrongful termination of employment and seeking unpaid wages. Prior to trial the court granted summary judgment for the defendant on the issue of unpaid wages. The jury returned a verdict for Mr. Myers and awarded him $850.00. The District Court entered judgment for Mr. Myers but offset the award by deducting $671.05 awarded earlier by a grievance panel and $178.95 for unemployment benefits paid to Mr. Myers for the period following his termination. The court refused to award attorney fees or costs to Mr. Myers. Mr. Myers appeals the decision to offset the award and the decision not to award fees and costs. We affirm. We consider the following issues:

1. Did the District Court err by ordering the offset for previous unemployment benefits?

2. Did the District Court err by granting partial summary judgment on the statutory wage claim?

3. Was plaintiff entitled to recover penalties, attorney fees, and costs?

Mr. Myers has not filed a trial transcript on appeal, although he did file a transcript of the hearing on his motion to amend the judgment or for new trial. Consequently, the only facts before us are [288]*288those contained in the district court file. The following facts were stipulated to the lower court prior to trial:

1. The plaintiff was hired by the Department of Agriculture on February 14, 1984, as a potato inspector. He was paid $5,347 per hour.

2. Training began on February 22, 1984. The plaintiff completed the training necessary to he an inspector and received the necessary state and federal certifications. He was licensed on March 24, 1984.

3. The Department of Agriculture received a letter from Orrin R. Streich dated April 9, 1984, stating in part, “I absolutely refuse to have Bill Myers inspecting on my farm.”

4. The plaintiff was no longer assigned to Orrin Streich’s farm following receipt of the letter of April 9, 1984. However, the plaintiff continued working at the Snell farm.

5. April 13, 1984, was the plaintiff’s last day of work as a potato inspector.

6. Some potato inspection of crops occurred subsequent to April 13, 1984.

7. Following plaintiff’s separation from employment, Dayle Mercier completed the inspection on the Streich farm and smaller farms continued to be inspected by other inspectors.

8. For the 1984 season, Bill Myers worked a total of 162.5 hours; Linda Lidstrom worked a total of 368.5 hours; and Dayle Mercier worked a total of 78.5 hours.

Mr. Myers contended he had been told by his supervisor that he would work approximately as many hours as Linda Lidstrom would work. His employer, Department of Agriculture, stated that he was terminated because there was no further inspection work to do in his area. Mr. Myers believed that no just cause existed for his termination; he therefore requested that a grievance panel conduct administrative review of his termination. The record does not contain the grievance panel’s decision. However, the District Court, in its judgment, refers to the panel’s decision:

“Specifically, the grievance panel recommended on December 20, 1984 that Mr. Myers be compensated in the amount of $671.05. A warrant in that amount, minus costs, was sent to Mr. Myers on January 2, 1985 by Keith Kelly, Director of the Department of Agriculture.”

Dissatisfied with the panel’s decision, Mr. Myers brought this action in district court.

[289]*289I

Did the District Court err by ordering the offset for previous unemployment benefits?

After his termination from employment, Mr. Myers received $184.00 in unemployment benefits from the Department of Labor. The District Court ordered that the jury award of $850.00 be offset by the grievance panel award of $671.05 and unemployment benefits received. The court explained its reasoning:

“The parties agreed prior to trial, and it was consistent with the claim made by Plaintiff to Department of Agriculture in his Employee Grievance Form, that the amount awarded to Plaintiff for lost wages should be offset by (1) the amount of the grievance panel award and (2) by the amount of unemployment benefits received ‘so that he is made whole.’ This claim is in accord with generally accepted principles of law as to damages and is adopted by the Court. Hence, the offset by this Court for the grievance award of $671.05 and unemployment compensation for the period of April 14, 1984 through May 8, 1984.”

Mr. Myers has not refuted the lower court’s statement that the parties agreed to the offsets prior to trial. Without a transcript, we may not question the lower court’s reliance upon such an agreement.Therefore, we affirm the District Court’s judgment and order that the jury award be offset by the grievance panel award and by unemployment benefits collected by Mr. Myers.

II

Did the District Court err by granting partial summary judgment on the statutory wage claim?

Prior to trial, the defendant moved for partial summary judgment on grounds that Mr. Myers had no basis for a wage claim pursuant to Title 39, Chapter 3, Part 2, MCA. Mr. Myers responded by contending that had he not been discharged he would have worked for the remainder of the potato season and would have collected wages for the whole season. Those lost wages, he argued, constituted “wages” as anticipated by Sections 39-3-204 through -206, MCA. Those statutes read, in pertinent part, as follows:

“39-3-204. Payment of wages generally. (1) Every employer of labor in the state of Montana shall pay to each employee the wages earned by such employee . . . and no person for whom labor has [290]*290been performed may withhold from any employee any wages earned or unpaid for a longer period than 10 business days after the same are due and payable.
“39-3-205. Payment of wages when employee separated employment prior to payday. (1) Except as provided in subsection (2), whenever any employee is separated from the employ of any employer, all unpaid wages of such employee shall become due and payable within 3 days, except for employees of the State of Montana and its political subdivisions who would be paid on the next regular payday for the pay period during which the employee was separated from employment or 15 days from the date of separation from employment, whichever occurs first . . .
“39-3-206. Penalty for failure to pay wages at times specified in law. Any employer, as such employer is defined in this part, who fails to pay any of his employees as provided in this part or violates any other provision of this part shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. A penalty shall also be assessed against and paid by such employer and become due such employee as follows: a sum equivalent to the fixed amount of 5% of the wages due and unpaid shall be assessed for each day, except Sundays and legal holidays, upon which such failure continues after the day upon which such wages were due, except that such failure shall not be deemed to continue more than 20 days after the date such wages were due.” (Emphasis added.)

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Harrell v. Farmers Educational Cooperative Union
2013 MT 367 (Montana Supreme Court, 2013)
Fiedler v. Fiedler
879 P.2d 675 (Montana Supreme Court, 1994)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
756 P.2d 1144, 232 Mont. 286, 45 State Rptr. 1056, 28 Wage & Hour Cas. (BNA) 1338, 1988 Mont. LEXIS 172, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/myers-v-department-of-agriculture-mont-1988.