Jameson v. Pacific Gas and Electric Co.

Jameson started working at Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) in 1985. In 2012, Nelson reported safety violations at sites supervised by Jameson. Nelson subsequently complained of harassment and retaliation. Jameson admitted contacting others to spread complaints about Nelson. PG&E concluded that Jameson engaged in retaliation and terminated his employment. He sued for wrongful termination and breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, alleging PG&E fired him in violation of an implied-in-fact employment contract not to terminate his employment without good cause. The trial court granted PG&E summary judgment on the basis that Jameson failed to demonstrate the existence of a triable issue of material fact as to the existence of an implied employment contract. The court of appeal affirmed. Regardless of whether Jameson was an at-will employee, PG&E established it had good cause to terminate him. It employed an adequate procedure to investigate Nelson’s allegations and reasonably decided to terminate Jameson on the basis of that investigation. Jameson failed to present sufficient evidence to establish a triable issue of fact that PG&E’s decision was biased or procedurally inadequate. View "Jameson v. Pacific Gas and Electric Co." on Justia Law