Batteries Plus, LLC v. Mohr

• Decision Date: 29 June 2001
• Docket Number: No. 99-1319.,99-1319.
• Citation: 628 N.W.2d 364,244 Wis.2d 559,2001 WI 80
• Parties: BATTERIES PLUS, LLC, Plaintiff-Appellant-Petitioner, v. Clinton MOHR, Defendant-Respondent.
• Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court

244 Wis.2d 559

2001 WI 80

628 N.W.2d 364

BATTERIES PLUS, LLC, Plaintiff-Appellant-Petitioner, v. Clinton MOHR, Defendant-Respondent.¹

No. 99-1319.

Supreme Court of Wisconsin.

Oral argument February 27, 2001.

Decided June 29, 2001.

For the plaintiff-appellant-petitioner there were briefs by Roger L. Pettit and Petrie & Stocking, S.C., Milwaukee, and oral argument by Roger L. Pettit.

For the defendant-respondent there was a brief by Richard R. Grant and Consigny, Andrews, Hemming & Grant, S.C., Janesville, and oral argument by Richard Grant.

¶ 1. DAVID T. PROSSER, J.

This is a review of a published decision of the court of appeals, Batteries Plus, LLC v. Mohr, 2000 WI App 153, 237 Wis. 2d 776, 615 N.W.2d 196. Batteries Plus, a retail seller off batteries, sued Clinton Mohr (Mohr), one of its former at will employees, for repayment of past wages. Batteries Plus claimed that it accidentally overpaid Mohr approximately $11,500 for mileage expenses when Mohr was a commercial sales specialist for the company. Mohr counterclaimed, alleging that Batteries Plus wrongfully discharged him when he refused to agree to reimburse the company, through deductions from his future wages, for the alleged overpayment. ¶ 2. The case was tried to a jury in the circuit court for Waukesha County, Patrick L. Snyder, Judge. The jury returned a verdict in favor of Mohr, awarding him damages for wrongful discharges and underpayment of wages. In allowing Mohr's counterclaim, the circuit court ruled that Wis. Stat. § 103.455 (1995-96)² provided a well-established and important public policy basis to preclude Batteries Plus from lawfully discharging Mohr for this refusal to agree to have repayment amounts deducted from his wages. The court of appeals affirmed.

¶ 3. We disagree with the circuit court and the court of appeals in their application of the law. Although Wis. Stat. § 103.455 embodies a fundamental and well-defined public policy, the policy does not apply to the fact situation in this case. Neither the letter nor the spirit of § 103.455 covers this situation in which an employer claims that it overpaid its employee by mistake and the employee gives the employer no choice but to go to court to recover the money. We conclude that Mohr may not maintain an action for wrongful discharge under these circumstances. Accordingly, we reverse the decision of the court of appeals.

I

¶ 4. In 1993, Mohr sold his battery business to Batteries Plus but he remained with the company as an employee. At the outset, Mohr worked as a store manager. In 1994, Batteries Plus made Mohr a commercial sales specialist. Mohr's compensation package included a base salary and a commission of a percentage of the gross profits on all sales. Mohr used his own vehicle in his sales position, and he received reimbursement for mileage expenses from the start of his new position in August 1994 until April 1996.

¶ 5. In 1996, Batteries Plus informed Mohr that it had mistakenly paid him for mileage expenses. It claims that it had been paying Mohr an extra two percent in commissions to accommodate his travel expenses and that he was not supposed to receive additional reimbursement for mileage. Batteries Plus asked him to agree to deductions from future wages in order to reimburse it for the overpayment. Mohr refused and denied that he had been overpaid. Over a period of several months the parties discussed the company's claim of overpayment. There were sharp exchanges of words and letters, including a rejected request for an employment contract. Mohr's employment ended July 1, 1996, with Mohr claiming that he had been fired and the company claiming that Mohr had quit.

¶ 6. Batteries Plus thereafter instituted a collection action against Mohr in circuit court to recover the alleged overpayment. Mohr counterclaimed, alleging wrongful discharge, breach of employment contract, and violation of Wis. Stat. Ch. 109 on wage claims. After a trial, the jury found that Mohr had not been overpaid. Instead, it found that Mohr had been underpaid and was entitled to $3400. The jury also found that Mohr was an at-will employee as opposed to a contract employee, and that he had been wrongfully discharged. As a result, the jury awarded Mohr $60,000 in damages.

¶ 7. Following the trial, Batteries Plus moved the circuit court for various forms of relief. First, Batteries Plus asked the circuit court to change the jury's special verdict answer as to the underpayment of wages, on grounds that there was insufficient evidence for such a jury finding.

¶ 8. Second, Batteries Plus moved the circuit court to change the jury's answer on the issue of whether Mohr was wrongfully discharged. Batteries Plus argued that there was insufficient evidence for such a jury finding. It also argued that the jury's answer on the question of wrongful discharge was invalid as a matter of law because no public policy embodied in existing law precluded Batteries Plus from conditioning Mohr's continued employment on his agreeing to repay the compensation for mileage expenses. Batteries Plus made the latter argument both before and after trial.

¶ 9. Third, pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 805.15, Batteries Plus moved the circuit court for a new trial on its collection claim and Mohr's claim for unpaid wages. It argued that the jury verdict was "contrary to the law and to the weight of evidence and that a new trial should be awarded on those two issues in the interest of justice."

¶ 10. The circuit court denied all of Batteries Plus's motions, although it reduced the jury's answer on Mohr's claim for underpayment of wages from $3400 to $137. The $137 underpayment occurred because of a clerical mistake by the employer that was discovered during the course of the trial. The circuit court also awarded Mohr double costs and interest pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 807.01, the statute relating to settlement offers.

¶ 11. Batteries Plus appealed and the court of appeals affirmed the judgment of the circuit court. The court ruled that (1) Mohr identified a fundamental and well-defined public policy that applied to the facts of this case; (2) there was credible evidence for the jury's finding that Mohr was discharged for refusing to act in contravention of the fundamental and well-defined public policy; and (3) the circuit court properly awarded interest and double costs pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 807.01. Batteries Plus, 237 Wis. 2d at ¶¶ 18, 26, 30.

¶ 12. We granted Batteries Plus's petition for review. The appeal to this court challenges only the propriety of Mohr's claim for wrongful discharge and does not involved the award for underpayment of wages or the award of interest and double costs. Batteries Plus also has not appealed its unsuccessful claim that it overpaid Mohr.

II

¶ 13. The employment-at-will doctrine is an established general tenet of workplace relations in Wisconsin. Hausman v. St. Croix Care Ctr., 214 Wis. 2d 655, 663, 571 N.W.2d 393 (1997). It has been recognized in case law since 1871. Prentiss v. Ledyard, 28 Wis. 131, 133 (1871). Its "centrality" in the marketplace was reaffirmed this term in Mackenzie v. Miller Brewing Co., 2001 WI 23, ¶ 12, 241 Wis. 2d 700, 623 N.W.2d 739, where this court explained that the employment-at-will rule serves the interests of employees as well as employers.

¶ 14. The interest of employees is well understood. An at-will relationship allows an employee to leave the employer at any time for any reason. This right is especially appealing when the economy is strong and labor is in short supply, because it permits the employee to move freely from one position to another.

¶ 15. The employer's side of the equation is often less understood. Employment-at-will usually reaches a court in the context of a contested employee discharge, a situation in which the individual employee is pitted against a seemingly more powerful employer. This context seldom facilitates a detached appreciation that the employer should have the same right, for whatever reason, to dispense with the services of an employee as the employee has to quit. The antidote for both parties to the potential unfairness arising from a party's change of heart is an employment contract.

[1]

¶ 16. The employment-at-will doctrine permits an "employer [to] discharge an employee `for good cause, for no cause, or even for cause morally wrong, without being thereby guilty of legal wrong.'" Brockmeyer v. Dun & Bradstreet, 113 Wis. 2d 561, 567, 335 N.W.2d 834 (1983).³

[2]

¶ 17. In 1983, in Brockmeyer, this court recognized a "narrow public policy exception" to the employment-at-will doctrine, allowing an employee a cause of action "for wrongful discharge when the discharge is contrary to a fundamental and well-defined public policy as evidenced by existing law." Id. at 572-73.

¶ 18. In the years since 1983, the court's formulation of this exception has been tested many times. Last term, we unanimously reaffirmed the exception in Strozinsky v. School District of Brown Deer, 2000 WI 97, 237 Wis. 2d 19, 614 N.W.2d 443. As we noted in Strozinsky, "statutory modifications to the rule of employment-at-will targeted the potentially harsh application of the doctrine by allowing employees to seek relief for certain types of terminations." 237 Wis. 2d at ¶ 34 (citing Brockmeyer, 113 Wis. 2d at 567-68). For example, statutes make it unlawful for employers to terminate employees because of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin;⁴ participation in union activities, jury service, or military service; or testifying at an occupational, safety, and health proceeding. Id. (citing Brockmeyer, 113 Wis. 2d at 567-68).

[3]

¶ 19. Brockmeyer was this court's first decision to recognize an exception to the employment-at-will doctrine.⁵ In Strozinsky, we summarized the law on the subject:

The Brockmeyer court recognized a narrow public policy exception that allows a cause of action "for wrongful discharge when the discharge is contrary

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