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MacDougall v. Weichert6/10/1996
(This syllabus is not part of the opinion of the Court. It has been prepared by the Office of the Clerk for the convenience of the reader. It has been neither reviewed nor approved by the Supreme Court. Please note that, in the interests of brevity, portions of any opinion may not have been summarized).
John W. Mac Dougall v. James M. Weichert, et al. (A-116-94)
Argued March 14, 1995 - Decided June 10, 1996
HANDLER, J., writing for a majority of the Court.
John MacDougall was a sales associate for Weichert Co., Realtors (Weichert). He began working at Weichert's Chester office on March 5, 1984. At the time, he was also an elected member of the Chester Borough Council (the Council) and its President. Robert Merriam is a real estate developer who used Weichert to sell his properties. Merriam owned a two-story office building in Chester, which bad several tenants. As a Council member, MacDougall voted for an ordinance that would ban public parking in front of Merriam's office building. MacDougall was subsequently discharged from his real estate sales position because Merriam, an important Weichert client, threatened to terminate his business relationship with Weichert if it continued to retain MacDougall as a sales associate.
MacDougall filed a complaint, alleging essentially that: 1) Weichert, through its President and Regional Vice President, violated a clear mandate of public policy by terminating him in retaliation for his vote on the parking ordinance; 2) Merriam tortiously interfered with his relationship with Weichert by causing his termination; and 3) Merriam libeled him. All defendants moved for summary judgment. The trial court granted the motions, dismissing the claims related to both wrongful discharge and tortious interference. By stipulation, the trial court dismissed the libel count with prejudice. The Appellate Division affirmed the trial court's decision.
The Supreme Court granted MacDougall's petition for certification.
HELD: N.J.S.A.2C:27-3 and -5 are the source of the clear mandate of public policy that serves to protect an employee from the threat or infliction of unlawful harm that is intended to influence his or her official action as an elected legislative representative. That harm would be unlawful if it is a violation of criminal law, the commission of a tort, or the violation of a civil or legal duty or an applicable code of ethics, including a violation of the principles that define the conflict-of-interest laws that govern the official actions of persons holding public office. The record in this case fairly poses the issue of whether Weichert's conduct in terminating MacDougall's employment was based on interests or relationships that would constitute an impermissible conflict of interest and may have offended the standards that govern conflicts of interest, thereby violating a clear mandate of public policy.
1. The wrongful discharge doctrine protects at-will employees who are under the total control of the employer and are without separate or independent contractual rights that provide employment protections. Independent contractors are not protected under this doctrine. The categorization of a working relationship does not depend on the label used by the parties, but rather on the type of relationship and the rights and duties of the parties arising from that relationship. In this case, MacDougall and Weichert signed an agreement that purported to make MacDougall and independent contractor and, MacDougall did not receive a salary, pension, sick leave, sick pay, or other attributes of an employee relationship. Nevertheless, there are facts suggesting that Weichert exerted substanti
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