In case you missed it, a California court recently upheld a $4.1 billion aribration award to a former executive who brought a wrongful termination suit against his former employer. (The National Law Journal has a good analysis today of what happened here, as well.)
Although this blog covers issues applilcable to Connecticut employers, the lessons learned from this California case — which seems to be the largest single plaintiff employment law case award ever — are applicable to employers everywhere.
Numerous other blogs have done a great job recapping the case so I’m not going to spend time here doing so. For a employee perspective, check out the Employee Rights Post recap. For an employer perspective, check out the Manpower Employment Blawg. (And for a humorous perspective, check out World of Work’s "First Annual Dr. Evil Award".)
But the lessons learned from this case are simple: If you’re an employer and you make promises, you’ll be bound by them. Even if they lead to really really big numbers. Proper drafting of employment contracts and follow through on the issues that such contracts raise can help an employer avoid similar issues in the future.
For more links about the case, check out Overlawyered.