Faith W. Cook v. Heck’s Inc.

Summary

The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia held that a promise of job security in an employee handbook distributed to employees constitutes an offer for a unilateral contract that the employee accepts by continuing to work, and that a handbook listing specified offenses and penalties described as a complete list is prima facie evidence of such an offer, so the directed verdict on the breach-of-contract claim was reversed. The Court affirmed the directed verdicts on civil conspiracy, because the individual defendants acted only in their official capacities and there was no concerted oppressive conduct in carrying out the termination; on outrageous conduct, because the firing fell short of the extreme-and-outrageous standard; and on punitive damages for the Wage Payment and Collection Act violation, because only the statutory liquidated-damages penalty of eight days' wages was available absent malice or statutory authorization. The final order was affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded for further proceedings on the contract claim. Justice Neely dissented, stating that he found sufficient evidence to direct a verdict.