Contracts

Brief

Sheets v. Teddy’s Frosted Foods

Procedural History:

• Lower court ruled for the defendant.
• Appealed.
• Remanded for further proceedings.

Facts:

• Plaintiff was employed from 1973-1977 for the defendant as a quality control director and operations manager.
• Plaintiff began to notice deviations from the specifications contained in the defendant’s standards and labels.
• Plaintiff communicated these issues in writing to the defendant.
• His requests were ignored and he was terminated.
• He was dismissed in retaliation for his efforts to ensure that the defendant’s products would comply with the governmental standards.

Issue:

• Whether to recognize an exception to the traditional rules governing employment at will so as to permit a cause of action for wrongful discharge where the discharge contravenes a clear mandate of public policy?

Holding:

• Possibly. Remanded.

Reasoning:

• Due to the position of the plaintiff, if he was to stand idle, this could have exposed him to the possibility of criminal prosecution.
• An employee should not be put to an election whether to risk criminal sanction or to jeopardize his continued employment.