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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Judge Terry, however, expresses concern "lest we allow `public policy' exceptions to swallow up the at-will doctrine...." Judge Terry's opinion, supra, at 162. He would, therefore, restrict this court's recognition of such exceptions to only those cases where the exception is firmly anchored or solidly based in a statute or regulation which clearly reflects the "public policy" being relied *187 upon. For the reasons stated at length in my (division) dissent (see APPENDIX, infra), I cannot agree to such a drastic restriction. See also Judge Ferren's opinion, issued today, supra, at 166, tracing the history of the common law role of the courts in law making. I would add that the underpinnings of the employment-at-will doctrine (an agrarian, patriarchal, master-servant relationship of the English feudal system) proved to be ill-suited for our increasingly industrialized society. DAWN D. BENNETT-ALEXANDER & LAURA B. PINCUS, EMPLOYMENT LAW FOR BUSINESS 8-10 (1995) ("BACKGROUNDTHE EMPLOYMENT AT-WILL DOCTRINE"); see also Judge Schwelb's opinion, supra, at 174. It is for this very reason that, in our country, legislators, faced with the problems of an ever-increasing workforce, found it necessary to provide statutory guidance in the area of diversified employee-employer relationships. BENNETT-ALEXANDER & PINCUS, supra, at 9.

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