Legal Question in Business Law in California

verbal contract? teacher in distress

I took a job teaching 4th and 5th grade at a school and working at a synagogue for a stated salary of $3500 per month, from december until the end of the school year. After a month and a half, the principal of the school fired me from teaching the fourth grade. He offered to let me continue teaching the 5th grade, with a corresponding cut in my salary, on a temporary basis until further review of my performance after two months on the job. He hoped that I could arrange to make up for the loss of more than 1/3 of my income through arrangements with the president, who hired me, but the president refused to let me do any other activities at the school to make up for the lost income. I ended up staying at the school for the time being, and when I discussed leaving the school a few weeks before the end of the school year to pursue other opportunities, the principal threatened to blacklist and sue me for breach of contract to stay to the end of the year. I have also been verbally abused at the job. I never explicitly agreed to stay to the end of the year under the reduced pay and work arrangements, but he seems to think I did. Does he have legal recourse?


Asked on 4/07/03, 3:18 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Sheldon G. Bardach Law Offices of Sheldon G. Bardach

Re: verbal contract? teacher in distress

You mot certainly do have recourse. The oral nature of your agreement does not make it unenforceable, if it could be performed within one year. The school, or district, did breach your contract of employment, and further committed the tort of breach of good faith and fair dealing. On your breach of contract action your damages are what you would have earned on your contract, reduced by the mitigation you achieved, which ceased because of the school not permitting you to mitigate. The tort damages are what are known as general damages, that is the ordinary expectable injury you sustained as a result ot the behavior you have been subjected to, and maybe punative damages as well.

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Answered on 4/07/03, 12:32 pm


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