 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Crawford Rehabilitation Services Inc. v. Weissman6/9/1997
e claims as pled. However, in response to these claims Crawford asserted the after-acquired evidence doctrine as a complete defense. The after-acquired evidence doctrine shields an employer from liability or limits available relief where, after a termination, the employer learns for the first time about employee wrongdoing that would have caused the employer to discharge the employee. See Camp v. Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmaro, 35 Cal. App. 4th 620, 41 Cal. Rptr. 2d 329, 335 (Ct. App. 1995). Where the employee's misconduct consists of resume fraud, the after-acquired evidence doctrine affords an employer a defense if the employer would not have hired the employee if it had known of the fraud. See Welch v. Liberty Mach. Works, Inc., 23 F.3d 1403, 1405 (8th Cir. 1994). "The after-acquired evidence doctrine has its foundation in the logic that an employee cannot complain about being wrongfully discharged because the individual is no worse off than he or she would have been had the truth of his or her misconduct been presented at the outset." Gassman v. Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Soc'y, 22 Kan. App. 2d 632, 921 P.2d 224, 226 (Kan. Ct. App. 1996), aff'd, 261 Kan. 725, 933 P.2d 743 (Kan. 1997).
Basic principles of law and equity support a rule allowing an employer to avoid liability for breach of implied contract or promissory estoppel claims arising from an employment relationship induced by an employee's fraud. A party that has been fraudulently induced to enter into a contract may rescind the contract to restore the status quo. See Restatement (Second) of Contracts ยง 164 (1981). Applying that axiom, an employer that has been fraudulently induced to hire an employee may rescind the employment agreement. Here, the only agreement that existed was the one contained in the employment manual concerning termination procedures. Hence, the employer is entitled to rescind the implied contract to adhere to the termination procedures contained in the employment manual, and cannot be held liable under a theory of breach of implied contract for failure to adhere to such procedures. Cf. Massey v. Trump's Castle Hotel & Casino, 828 F. Supp. 314, 325 (D.N.J. 1993) (holding that employer may use after-acquired evidence of resume fraud to avoid liability for breach of an employment contract, if it can show that it had the power to void the contract due to reliance on material misrepresentations, even where the employer was unaware of that power when the breach occurred); Bazzi v. Western & Southern Life Ins. Co., 808 F. Supp. 1306, 1309 (E.D. Mich. 1992) (holding that after-acquired evidence may completely bar a claim for breach of the employment contract because the employer's duty "arises from the contract itself and falls with that contract"), rev'd on other grounds, 25 F.3d 1047 (6th Cir. 1994).
In addition, we have previously recognized the rule that "he who seeks equity should do equity and come with clean hands." Golden Press, Inc. v. Rylands, 124 Colo. 122, 126, 235 P.2d 592, 595 (1951). An employee who engages in resume fraud does not have "clean hands" and is not entitled to hold an employer liable under a theory of promissory estoppel. See Kiely v. St. Germain, 670 P.2d 764, 767 (Colo. 1983) (promissory estoppel is based upon principles of both contract law and equity).
Therefore, we begin by recognizing that resume fraud, even when discovered after termination, may serve as a defense to claims of wrongful discharge predicated on contract or equity. The rule announced by the United States Supreme Court in McKennon v. Nashville Banner Publishing Co., 513 U.S. 352, 130 L. Ed. 2d 852, 115 S. Ct. 879 (1995), neither governs, nor, in our view conflicts with our holding. In McK
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Colorado Employee Leasing Services
Employee Leasing Services
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|