Suburban Hosp., Inc. v. Dwiggins

• Decision Date: 01 September 1990
• Docket Number: No. 90,90
• Citation: 324 Md. 294,596 A.2d 1069
• Parties: , 125 Lab.Cas. P 57,414, 6 IER Cases 1500 SUBURBAN HOSPITAL, INC. v. William DWIGGINS. ,
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

Page 294

324 Md. 294

596 A.2d 1069, 125 Lab.Cas. P 57,414,

6 IER Cases 1500

SUBURBAN HOSPITAL, INC. v. William DWIGGINS.

No. 90, Sept. Term, 1990.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

Oct. 15, 1991.

S. Allan Adelman, Godard, West & Adelman, P.C., Rockville, both on brief, for petitioner.

Theresa M. Hall, Durke G. Thompson, Goldberg, Thompson, Pasternak & Fidis, P.A., Bethesda, all on brief, for respondent.

Argued before ELDRIDGE, RODOWSKY, McAULIFFE, CHASANOW, JJ., MARVIN H. SMITH and CHARLES E. ORTH, Jr., JJ., Court of Appeals of Maryland (Retired, Specially Assigned), and RAYMOND G. THIEME, Jr., J., Fifth Judicial Circuit of Maryland (Specially Assigned).

CHASANOW, Judge.

William R. Dwiggins claims that Suburban Hospital, Inc. (Suburban) unfairly fired him from his job as a building maintenance supervisor. He says that he did not receive a fair hearing in the hospital's grievance system, and he wants the courts to make sure he gets one. Suburban counters that Dwiggins received everything he was entitled to through the grievance procedures. Dwiggins won a partial victory in both the trial court and the Court of Special Appeals. Suburban Hospital v. Dwiggins, 83 Md.App. 97, 573 A.2d 835 (1990).

Because the case raises important questions on the subject of at-will employment, this Court granted Suburban's petition for certiorari.

The Facts

Dwiggins had been employed at Suburban Hospital for a decade before the dispute at issue here arose in 1985. When he was hired, there were no discussions about how long he would be employed. His first duties at Suburban were as a carpenter. In 1980, Dwiggins was promoted to building maintenance supervisor, and during the following two years, he was praised for his job performance.

Suburban set forth a number of written policies for employees. Early in 1981, the director of personnel and the hospital administrator signed a policy on disciplinary action that told employees what they could expect from the hospital and created certain requirements that officials had to meet when disciplining employees. For example, an employee's suspension "must be validated by a counseling memo forwarded to the personnel department. All cases of suspension must have prior review by the department head and division head." If an employee was to be fired, more stringent procedures were to be followed: "Review by the department head, division head, personnel department, and hospital administrator is required for termination of an employee."

A worker aggrieved by a decision of a supervisor could seek review through both an informal and then a formal process that included review by a four-member ad hoc grievance committee. Two committee members would be appointed by the director of personnel; the other two would be chosen by the employee. The grievance committee would then review the issue and inform both sides of its decision within two working days. Either side was given the option of appealing to the hospital administrator.

The process ended with the hospital administrator. According to Suburban's policy and procedure statement, "The administrator will consider the grievance and within five working days decide upon its disposition. The decision of the administrator will be final."

A year later, in 1982, Suburban adopted a "code for employee relations" and promised "to protect the privileges, interests, and benefits of its employees...." In this document, the hospital declared that it would establish written standards for job performance and would "permit and encourage any employee" to present grievances "to the appropriate supervisor for settlement." If the complaint had not been handled to the employee's satisfaction at that level, he or she was promised that the matter would "be dealt with at successively higher levels of management in accordance with an established, written procedure."

The hospital published a reinstatement policy in 1983. In it, Suburban said, "Reinstatement is an offer and acceptance of any position within six months of separation from the hospital." A reinstated employee would "be placed in a three month probationary period."

In 1985, Dwiggins found that a wall being built inside the hospital was going to block an elevator entrance if construction plans were followed. To solve this problem, he amended the plans on his own by ordering a bend in the wall. When Suburban's associate administrator, Paul Quinn (Quinn), found out, he suspended Dwiggins for three days and recommended that he be fired. Dwiggins' transgressions were four-fold, according to Quinn: (1) he had built the wall without approval from the administration; (2) he had failed to get a building permit; (3) he had spent money without the necessary clearance; and (4) he had not told laboratory personnel what he was doing so that they could protect their equipment.

Dwiggins invoked the hospital grievance procedure. An ad hoc committee decided that he should not be blamed on the first two allegations. Rather than agree that Dwiggins should be fired, the committee recommended that he be placed on probation with a number of specific restrictions. After reviewing the committee's recommendations, the hospital administrator concurred. She warned Dwiggins that he would have to follow written guidelines for his work and that he would be placed on six months probation "with the understanding that any violations of the written guidelines will be grounds for immediate termination."

Dwiggins signed the administrator's letter outlining the restrictions and returned it as requested, agreeing to the terms of his reinstatement. On July 2, 1985, the day he was scheduled to resume work, Dwiggins signed a document entitled, "Performance Conditions," which spelled out specific work rules as follows:

"No construction requiring a building permit may be undertaken without the appropriate signed permit from the County.

No outside contractor can be engaged without signed approval from Administration.

Construction must be coordinated with all departments involved.

No keys may be made or changed without individual and specific approval of the Associate Administrator or the Administrator.

No field changes may be made to any Ward Hale project without specific administrative signed authorization by the Associate Administrator or the Administrator."

The conditions were followed by the warning: "Failure to comply with any of these provisions during the probationary period will result in immediate termination." John Marynowski, Suburban's Director of Engineering/Maintenance and Dwiggins' supervisor, co-signed the document.

Two months later, Marynowski filed a formal "counseling memo" complaining about Dwiggins' performance. He accused Dwiggins of showing "poor judgment in job planning and supervision in completing the renovation of radiology and the installation of the dishwasher...." Specifically, Marynowski said that the job was finished a week late and that the work was badly coordinated by Dwiggins.

On September 16, Marynowski filed another counseling memo saying that, Dwiggins "has again demonstrated poor followup and a lack of concern of his responsibility as a supervisor." The memo was read to Dwiggins.

Finally, on September 26, 1985, Marynowski filed a counseling memo recommending that Dwiggins be fired for failing to abide by the reinstatement agreement he and the hospital administrator signed. Specifically, he accused Dwiggins of violating the condition forbidding him to hire an outside contractor--Peak Sheet Metal--without signed administration approval.

Dwiggins again brought the hospital's grievance system into play, arguing that the accusation was false and that he had not hired Peak Sheet Metal in violation of the reinstatement agreement. Suburban's Personnel Relations Coordinator decided against Dwiggins. In accordance with the grievance procedure, the matter then went to a four-member ad hoc committee, two of whose members were selected by Dwiggins. The proceedings before the ad hoc committee were not recorded. We are informed that Dwiggins was permitted to present a letter from Al Peak of Peak Sheet Metal, but Peak was not called as a witness. Dwiggins also alleges that he was not present when Quinn was interviewed by the committee. After reviewing the evidence, the committee decided that Dwiggins was accountable even if he had not personally contracted to engage Peak Sheet Metal to work at the hospital. "[S]ince the project was [Dwiggins'] responsibility then it was his responsibility to bring them in," the committee reasoned. "[I]t was [Dwiggins'] responsibility to get written prior approval to bring in the contractor to do the work." Dwiggins, the committee concluded, should be fired.

As required by the grievance procedure, the hospital administrator reviewed the case as well as a letter from Dwiggins' attorney. On November 1, 1985, the administrator wrote Dwiggins a letter saying, "it is my decision that your termination be upheld and that you not be reinstated."

Dwiggins then filed a breach of contract action, contending in part that Suburban had breached a contractual duty to follow the grievance procedures the hospital had established for employees. He also argued that the written reinstatement agreement he had signed was a legally enforceable contract and that the hospital dismissed him in violation of the agreement's terms. Suburban countered that Dwiggins was an at-will employee and the reinstatement agreement did not change that status. The hospital also argued that the grievance procedures it established had been followed to the letter; therefore, Suburban said, Dwiggins could be fired at its pleasure.

In essence, Dwiggins has two basic complaints: (1) he should not have been fired except for just cause because the reinstatement agreement showed that he was not an at-will employee, and (2) the grievance process was unfair.

After a trial in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, a jury...