Plaintiff former employee sued defendant company and others for wrongful termination, breach of oral contract, failure to pay overtime wages, and defamation. The Orange County Superior Court, California, entered judgment in favor of the company. The former employee appealed.
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Overview
The former employee argued that the trial court erred in enforcing a severance agreement that was against public policy contained in the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994, 38 U.S.C. § 4301 et seq., and obtained under duress. The court concluded that the release of rights in the severance agreement could not be enforced to the extent it dealt with claims of termination based on the former employee’s membership in the military or his military service. However, the release was enforceable as to the defamation and overtime claims. Although the former employee claimed that the release could not be enforced because it did not contain a waiver of Civ. Code, § 1542, nothing in that statute required that it be designated in the release or that a party specifically waive its provisions. The agreement was not obtained through economic duress. There was no evidence the company knew it owed the former employee money in addition to what was paid and used the agreement to avoid paying an acknowledged debt. That the former employee did not have a job and needed the money offered under the agreement to pay his bills did not equate to economic duress.
Outcome
The judgment was reversed as to the wrongful termination and breach of contract claims, but the judgment was affirmed as to the defamation and overtime claims.
