Drake And Keeler Case Summary

The facts of the case are that both Drake and Keeler felt that their workstations were too cold. The supervisor did not close the overhead door because of the temperature and the fact that the majority of the employees wanted the door to remain open. There is no evidence that Drake and Keeler told the supervisor that they would stop working and walk off the job if the overhead door was not closed. The employees should have escalated the situation up the chain of command before walking off the job. Instead the employees decided amongst themselves on their break to leave the job. According to Page, the court stated that an agreement involves a meeting of minds. First, the employer may try to argue that the discharge of Drake and Keeler was an appropriate exercise of management’s rights because of at will employment.
Employers should make sure the employee handbook does not create an implied contract of employment. In the case there was no mention of a union contract, so the employer has the ability to fire an employee at will. This is one defense that the employers of Drake and Keeler may use. Also the employer could argue there were just cause for dismissing Drake and Keeler. The employer could argue that the employees abandoned their jobs, which would result in a poor performance evaluation for the employees. An example of just cause is willful misconduct. If the employer has an established policy that a person leaving work without permission from management can be terminated this would be grounds for termination by management. This would mean that Drake and Keeler intentionally broke the rule established by the employer. The employer could also argue that the employees refused a direct order of the supervisor and decided to abandon their duties. “Employees are normally expected to obey a work order and later grieve it if they are of the opinion that the order was improperly issued” (Peterson,