posted on Wednesday, September 23, 2009 5:13 PM
by
David Greenspan
When Doodycalls, No Warning Needed
[Following up on an earlier posting (or post “Number 1”) we now bring you post “Number 2.” Special thanks to Melissa Taylormoore for keeping our eye on the bowl – I mean ball, when it comes to the juxtaposition of employment law and potty humor]
Virginia law requires that employers provide “reasonable notice” of termination to an at-will employee. However, exactly what constitutes reasonable notice has not been answered by the Supreme Court of Virginia. In the past few years, former employees have argued that “reasonable notice” means that employers have to tell them in advance that they are going to be terminated. Employers have argued that a reasonable notice requirement that mandates an advanced warning of termination undermines the entire notion of at-will employment.
This undecided area of law became clearer recently as a result of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia’s ruling in Calquin v. Doodycalls Fairfax VA LLC, No. 1:09cv543. Mauricio Calquin, an at-will employee of Doodycalls Fairfax Va LLC, a waste removal services company, brought suit against his former employer for a claim of “Termination Without Adequate Notice.” Mr. Calquin argued that Doodycalls had violated Virginia law when it terminated him at the same time it notified him that he was being fired.
The question really boils down to whether “reasonable notice” is a concept of timing (i.e. it must occur before the termination) or method (i.e. it involves the way an employer notifies its employee of the termination). The Court held that “reasonable notice” is a question of method and not one of timing. The Court determined that reasonable notices “requires that the manner and quality of the notice of termination must effectively communicate the fact of the termination to the at-will employee, but that it does not impose a requirement that the employer provide advance notice of the termination.”
This appears to be the first time a court has explicitly ruled on reasonable notice—and employers should breath a little easier knowing that (at least in Virginia) they don’t have to provide advanced warning to employees of an impending termination to satisfy the “reasonable notice” requirement.