Subject: | |
From: | |
Reply To: | Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB) Talk |
Date: | Wed, 12 Apr 2006 16:11:11 -0400 |
Content-Type: | text/plain |
Parts/Attachments: |
|
|
Actually, there is already NY precedent recognizing a claim for discharge in violation of an implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing where an associate was terminated for complaining about his firm's failure to report a fellow attorney's ethical violations -- Weider v. Skala, 80 NYS 2d 628, 609 N.E.2d 105 (1992) -- while allowing the claim under the covenant of "good faith and fair dealing" the NY Court of Appeals refused to recognize a general exception to the at will doctrine based on violations public policy; and the court has subsequently refused to extend the holding of Weider to cases involving doctors and CPA's -- and other professions with specific codes of professional ethics. In general, NY courts have been unwilling to recognize exceptions to the at-will doctrine.
>>> [log in to unmask] 4/12/2006 9:39 AM >>>
At-Will Doctrine Is Not Applied to Associate's Suit Against Firm
New York Law Journal
A New York judge has ruled that the employee-at-will doctrine doesn't apply to law firm associates who are terminated for refusing to go along with unethical conduct. A former associate at a high-profile Manhattan personal injury firm sued the firm and its name partners, claiming he was fired for his "refusal to allow himself to be drawn into" wrongful acts. A lawyer for the firm said the decision could open the floodgates to frivolous suits in which dismissed associates accuse firms of misconduct.
|
|
|