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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The analytical shortcomings of Wood's Rule, and the obsoleteness of the economic and social theories underlying it, do not constitute the doctrine's only vices. For the century or more that it has been in vogue, the at-will doctrine, flawed at birth, has often operated in a manner which many if not most reasonable people would view as unjust. See, e.g., Murphy, supra, 461 N.Y.S.2d at 239, 448 N.E.2d at 93 (Meyer, J., dissenting), (criticizing "[t]he harshness of a rule which permits an employer to discharge with impunity a 30-year employee one day before his pension vests");[6]Bender Ship Repair, Inc. v. Stevens, 379 So.2d 594 (Ala.1980) (at-will doctrine authorizes dismissal of employee for serving on grand jury);[7]Guy v. Travenol Laboratories, Inc., 812 F.2d 911, 912-15 (4th Cir.1987) (employee may lawfully be terminated for refusal to falsify records which the employee was required to maintain pursuant to FDA regulations); Odell v. Humble Oil & Refining Co., 201 F.2d 123, 127-28 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, 345 U.S. 941, 73 S.Ct. 833, 97 L.Ed. 1367 (1953) (at-will doctrine permits corporate employer to discharge employees who testified before grand jury and at trial pursuant to subpoena, where testimony led to employer's conviction on criminal charges); Buethe v. Britt Airlines, Inc., 787 F.2d 1194, 1196-97 (7th Cir.1986) (airline protected by at-will doctrine from liability for discharging co-pilot who declined to fly aircraft which did not meet federal standards of airworthiness; chief pilot had declared that a "co-pilot should keep his eyes open and his mouth shut"); see also 82 Am.Jur.2d Wrongful Discharge, §§ 34-49 (1992 & Supp.1997); Wanda Ellen Wakefield, Annotation, Liability for Discharging At-Will Employee for Refusing to Participate in, or for Disclosing, Unlawful or Unethical Acts of Employer or Co-Employees, 9 A.L.R.4th 329 (1981 & Supp. 1996).

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