Carl v. Children's Hospital, 702 A.2d 159 (1997)

Citation: Carl v. Children's Hospital, 702 A.2d 159 (1997)
Parent Document: Carl v. Children's Hospital, 702 A.2d 159 (1997)
Jurisdiction: DC (municipal)
Effective Date: 1997-09-23
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/2395626/carl-v-childrens-hospital/ ↗

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A question immediately suggests itself: are there no limits on the court’s law-making authority in the employment field? Appellee Children’s Hospital says there are limits and offers mostly a practical, not a normative, response. It argues that the legislature should assume full responsibility for enacting all wrongful discharge law because litigation to establish new legal theories in this field is counter-productive. The hospital says that litigation is too costly; employee wages are therefore suppressed by the employer’s need to allocate resources for defense of novel wrongful discharge claims; most suits are brought by ex-employees who belonged to the managerial and professional ranks, not by lower-level workers, so the public overall will not benefit from expanded theories of recovery; litigation requires years before resolution; lawyer enrichment is a principal benefit; wrongful discharge claims where the courts step in breed doctrinal confusion and unpredictability for employer and employee alike; for all these reasons alternative dispute resolution is to be preferred over litigation; and, in any event, legislation is superior to any wrongful discharge rules a court is likely to fashion—in particular, legislation along the lines of the Model Employment Termination Act (META)27 drafted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws.

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