Thompson

Certified for Partial Publication. [*]

CROSBY, Acting P.J.

Health care providers ought to know this rule: Above all else, do no harm. [1] So should their attorneys when prescribing an appeal.

Plaintiff Jessie Thompson worked as a nurse in the critical care unit of Friendly Hills Regional Medical Center in La Habra and had been employed there for 14 years. She was fired in April 1992 for allegedly falsifying her time sheets.

Thompson sued the hospital for breach of an oral contract not to discharge her without good cause and for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. She alleged her termination was pretextual and designed to deprive her of accrued retirement and pension benefits. She was 56 years old at the time of her termination, 6 years away from retirement.

The jury was instructed, "[t]here is a presumption under the laws of California that employment is at will [and] ... may be terminated by either the employer or the employee at any time, for any reason, good, bad, or nonexistent...." The jury was further instructed that the hospital had the legal right to dismiss Thompson if she failed to show, by a preponderance of the evidence, the existence of…