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Daniel v. Carolina Sunrock Corp.6/1/1993
WELLS, Judge.
Plaintiff contends that the trial court erred in granting defendants' motion for summary judgment on plaintiff's claims of wrongful discharge and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Plaintiff did not appeal the summary judgment order as to her tortious interference with contract claim.
"Summary judgment is properly granted 'if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that any party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.' N.C.G.S. 1A-1, Rule 56(c) (1983)." Waddle v. Sparks, 331 N.C. 73, 414 S.E.2d 22 (1992). All inferences of fact from the proofs offered must be drawn against the movant and in favor of the party opposing the motion for summary judgment. Id. Applying these guidelines, we shall consider plaintiff's claims for wrongful discharge and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Wrongful Discharge
While employed at Sunrock, plaintiff was an employee-at-will. Generally, in North Carolina, an employee-at-will has no claim for relief for wrongful discharge. Tompkins v. Allen, 107 N.C. App. 620, 421 S.E.2d 176 (1992). Generally, either party to an employment-at-will contract can terminate the contract for no reason at all, or for an arbitrary or irrational reason. Id. However, a valid claim for wrongful discharge may exist in the employment-at-will context if the contract is terminated for an unlawful reason or a purpose that contravenes public policy. Coman v. Thomas Manufacturing Co., 325 N.C. 172, 381 S.E.2d 445 (1989). In Sides v. Duke University, 74 N.C. App. 331, 328 S.E.2d 818, disc. rev. denied, 314 N.C. 331, 335 S.E.2d 13 (1985), this Court recognized a public policy exception to the employment-at-will doctrine in a case where a nurse alleged that her employer pressured her not to testify honestly in a medical malpractice lawsuit and subsequently discharged her because she refused to commit perjury, but rather testified fully and honestly. This Court wrote:
Thus, while there may be a right to terminate a contract at will for no reason, or for an arbitrary or irrational reason, there can be no right to terminate such a contract for an unlawful reason or purpose that contravenes public policy....We hold, therefore, that no employer in this State, notwithstanding that an employment is at will, has the right to discharge an employee and deprive him of his livelihood without civil liability because he refuses to testify untruthfully or incompletely in a court case, as plaintiff alleges happened here.
In Williams v. Hillhaven Corp., 91 N.C. App. 35, 370 S.E.2d 423 (1988), following Sides, this Court expanded the same public policy exception to a case where the plaintiff did not allege that her employer pressured her to alter her testimony, but rather alleged that she was wrongfully discharged after honestly testifying in a unemployment compensation hearing. The defendants in Williams attempted to differentiate their case from Sides because they never harassed or threatened plaintiff before she testified, but rather allegedly harassed and fired her after she testified against them. The Williams Court disagreed and found that, because she was discharged for telling the truth, "plaintiff falls into the same narrow exception to the general rule ... that Sides created."
In the case at bar, plainti
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