A Manhattan judge has ruled that the employee-at-will doctrine, which permits employees to be fired for any reason, does not apply to law firm associates who are terminated for refusing to go along with unethical conduct.
Gerard A. Connolly, a former associate at the high-profile Manhattan personal injury firm formerly known as Napoli, Kaiser & Bern, sued the firm and its name partners last year, alleging he was asked by partner Gerald Kaiser to sign an affidavit stating that a client's wife had signed a release waiving her claims to an $850,000 settlement.
According to his complaint, Connolly did not know if the wife had signed such a release and refused to sign the affidavit. He claimed he was wrongfully fired for his "refusal to allow himself to be drawn into the cover-up of defendants' wrongful acts." He is asking for $15 million in damages.
In largely denying the firm's motion to dismiss Connolly's claims, Supreme Court Justice Rolando T. Acosta extended the Court of Appeal's 1992 decision in Wieder v. Skala, 80 N.Y.2d 628, which held that an associate fired for insisting his firm report another associate's misconduct, as required under state Disciplinary Rule 1-103, could sue the firm for breach of an implied contract of good faith.