McCaskey v. CSAA: Employer May Be Bound By Oral Promise of Relaxed Performance Standards for Older Employees

McCaskey v. California State Automobile Association (October 29, 2010) --- Cal.App.4th ----, 2010 WL 4261437, presents an unusual set of facts and holding. The Court described the case as follows:

Plaintiffs ... brought these actions against [defendants] charging breach of contract and age discrimination. The gist of the claims was that defendant brought about plaintiff's discharges by breaching a promise to permit senior sales agents to continue in their employ under relaxed sales quotas. The trial court entered summary judgment for defendants primarily on the grounds that they were contractually entitled to rescind the promise, and that plaintiffs failed to raise a triable issue of fact concerning defendants' claimed nondiscriminatory reasons for eliminating the policy. We find that the record raises a triable issue of fact on the contract claim over the question whether defendants honored the policy for an agreed time, or if no agreement as to time can be inferred from the terms and circumstances of the employment contract, for a reasonable time. The record also presents triable issues of fact concerning the genuineness of defendants' claimed reasons for eliminating the policy. Accordingly, we will reverse the judgment.

Slip op. at 1.

The opinion is available here.