Articles

Breach of Employment Contract Cases

April, 2018

BREACH OF EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT

Recently, the Busca Law Firm was successful in litigating a breach of employment contract case before a jury in New London Superior Court.

What is a breach of contract or breach of employment contract case?

Most employment is at-will, which basically means an employee is free to leave his/her employment at any time.

Also, an employer can fire such employee for a good reason, a bad reason or even no reason at all as long as it doesn’t violate the law or public policy, e.g. firing an employee for filing a workers’ compensation claim.

The distinguishing feature about an employment contract is that the employer may only fire the employee “for cause.”  Connecticut law provides that the employer must have a substantial reason for firing the employee.

There are a number of legal principles that come into play when litigating a breach of employment contract case.  To form a binding contract, there must be a “meeting of the minds” at the time the contract was formed.  That is, the parties must agree that they have entered into a contract and must have a similar understanding of the essential terms of the contract.

A contract is a legally enforceable agreement containing one or more promises between the parties, which require each party to do or not to do certain things.  Contracts may be written or oral or even implied by the course of conduct of the parties, or some combination of these things.  Another principle provides that if the intent of the parties can not be determined from the language and surrounding circumstances, the language of the contract may be construed against the party who drafted the contract.

It is the law of Connecticut that every contract contains an implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing obligating each party to act in good faith and deal with the other in the performance of the contract.

Many times in employment cases, a breach of employment contract claim is brought with the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing claim and a failure to pay wages.

If you believe you may have a breach of employment contract case, consult with an experienced employment attorney.