A considerable body of law has grown up about the sulject of interference with commercial or economic relations, Included in the field of such relations are of course existing employment contracts, and agreements.
It is usually said that tort liabili...
A considerable body of law has grown up about the sulject of interference with commercial or economic relations, Included in the field of such relations are of course existing employment contracts, and agreements.
It is usually said that tort liability may be imposed upon a defendant who intentionally and improperly interferes with the plaintiff's rights under a contract with another person if the interference causes the plintiff to lose a right under the contract or makes the contract rights more costly or less valuable.
The Iaw of torts, and especially the Iaw of contract interference, was once of considerable significance in labor-management disputes. A Strike might interfere with the contract rights of a worker who did not wish to observe the strike.
The most common example is the case of iniury to a person who then loses wages as a result of the injury. Recovery for lost wages is commonly permitted for negligent injury, not on the theory that there was a negligent interference with the worker's performance of his contract, but on the theory that the interference, and the wage loss, resuted from the tort to his person.
Health and Safety factors may justify the employee in leaving his employment. Occasions might arise when an employee is confronted with a choice between not performing assigned tasks or subjecting himself to serious injury or death arising from a hazardous condition at the workplace. If the employee, with no reasonable alternative, refuses in good faith to expose himsel to the dangerous condition, he would be protecteel against subsequent discrimination. The employee should have asked his employer to correct the dangerous condition and his refusal to work must be in good faith.
The interference with employment contract should be avoided, and the measures for protecting employees should be taken.