GRACE S. FALLS, APPELLANT,
v.
LAWNWOOD MEDICAL CENTER, APPELLEE
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A registered nurse with over 20 years of service at a hospital was terminated and sued for wrongful dismissal. The trial court granted summary judgment for the hospital based on at-will employment doctrine, but the appellate court reversed, finding that disputed factual issues regarding cause for termination and the status of personnel policies in the employment contract precluded summary judgment.
Summary judgment was improper. The trial court should have first determined whether the hospital's personnel policies were incorporated into the employment contract, and if so, analyzed their effect on the employment relationship. If the policies limited termination to situations involving cause, the court—not the employer—must determine whether cause actually existed when the employee disputes it. The disputed factual issue of whether cause for dismissal existed could not be resolved through summary judgment.
[1] A hospital's personnel policies may become part of an employee's contract of employment.
[2] If personnel policies define "dismissal" as termination for cause, an employer may not terminate an employee without cause unless the policies also explicitly permit term…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“We are of the opinion that the case was not ripe for disposition by summary judgment. The trial court should have first determined if the hospital's personnel policies were part of appellant's contract of employment; and if so, then analyzed them to determine what effect they had on that contract.”
Establishes the required analytical framework: courts must first determine if personnel policies are contractually binding before applying them to limit at-will employment.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceGrace Falls was a registered nurse employed by Lawnwood Medical Center for over 20 years. She was terminated after an investigation alleged unprofessi…
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GLICKSTEIN, Judge.
This is an appeal from a summary final judgment in favor of an employer hospital against its employee, a registered nurse, who had been with the hospital for over twenty years. We reverse and remand.
The amended complaint was in two counts. The first sought declaratory judg ment, alleging that appellant was terminated without cause, notwithstanding the existence of personnel policies which defined dismissal as follows:
Dismissal is an immediate termination by the supervisor or department head for cause.
It further alleged that the hospital contended she could be dismissed without cause, thus establishing a justiciable controversy; and in addition to declaratory relief, sought reinstatement of employment and payment of back wages and other benefits. Her second count sought damages, alleging the dismissal to be a breach of her oral contract of employment.
The hospital filed affirmative defenses, including an allegation that the personnel policies contained another provision which provided:
Termination — Since employment in this hospital is based upon mutual consent, either the employee or the employer is privileged to terminate employment.
It also alleged that appellant breached her contract of employment by striking and behaving in an abusive manner toward a child who was a patient. The hospital moved for summary judgment and filed an affidavit of the director of nursing three days before the hearing on its motion, which recited that the investigation of appellant established unprofessional conduct. Appellant also filed an affidavit, denying that she struck or abused any patient and asserting that her employment was pursuant to the personnel policies which contained the above definition of dismissal. The personnel policies were not attached to the affidavit and are not part of the present record.
At the hearing on the motion, the trial court actually tried the facts and concluded the nurse did not strike the child. It further concluded that any cause for dismissal was to be determined by the employer and reluctantly granted the motion because it felt compelled to do so, the employment being terminable at will. The trial court relied upon DeMarco v. Publix Super Markets, Inc., 360 So. 2d 134 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978), aff’d, 384 So. 2d 1253 (Fla.1980), and Catania v. Eastern Airlines, Inc., 381 So. 2d 265 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980).
We are of the opinion that the case was not ripe for disposition by summary judgment. The trial court should have first determined if the hospital’s personnel policies were part of appellant’s contract of employment; and if so, then analyzed them to determine what effect they had on that contract. If it was further determined that appellant could only be terminated for cause, the trial court was in error in concluding that it was for the employer to make the ultimate determination, not the court, whether cause existed in a situation like the present in which the employee disputed its existence. We are of the further opinion that the trial court erred in resolving the disputed factual issue of cause in the framework of summary judgment.
DOWNEY and ANSTEAD, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Bryant v. Shands Teaching Hosp. & Clinics, Inc., 479 So. 2d 165 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985)…e existence of personnel policies dealing with “just cause” dismissal which, according to appellants, were a part of the contracts of employment they signed with the new Shands. On this latter point, appellants cite Falls v. Lawnwood Medical Center, 427 So. 2d 361 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983). We find both arguments to be without merit. Generally, an employee may be terminated at will, that is, without a showing of cause, where the employment contract between the parties is indefinite as to the period of employment.…
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Lurton v. Muldon Motor Co., 523 So. 2d 706 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988)…d 68 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986) (various letters, executive memoranda, and employee handbooks issued by employer assuring employees they would not be terminated without just cause). The instant case is distinguishable from Falls v. Lawnwood Medical Center, 427 So. 2d 361 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983), in which a summary judgment was reversed with a remand for the trial court to consider whether the policy manuals were part of the employment contract. The instant appeal, on the other hand, does not derive from a summary judgme…
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Linafelt v. BEV, Inc., 662 So. 2d 986 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995)…rlson Corp., 427 So. 2d 266, 268-70 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983). The policies and procedures at issue herein do not contain within them any expression of definiteness as to an employment contract or its duration. The case of Falls v. Lawnwood Medical Center, 427 So. 2d 361 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983), upon which Linafelt relies, is distinguishable because there existed in that case sufficient evidence that the hospital personnel policies were part of a contract of employment with Falls. Next, Linafelt’s first amended complai…
Previewing 3 of 5 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- DeMARCO v. Publix Super Mkts., Inc., 384 So. 2d 1253 (Fla. 1980)
- DeMARCO v. Publix Super Mkts., Inc., 360 So. 2d 134 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978)
- Catania v. E. Airlines, Inc., 381 So. 2d 265 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980)