Facts
- A clothing manufacturer employed Jacob Posner under a written one-year contract paying $17 per week, payable at the end of each week.
- The contract required Posner to work 6:30 A.M. to 6 P.M., with a one-hour lunch break, and to work limited overtime “without extra pay” (up to two hours per day and up to two months total during the year).
- The employer discharged Posner before the one-year term ended, constituting a breach.
- Posner elected not to sue for contract damages; he sued on a quantum meruit theory seeking compensation for services, including overtime as a separable item.
- The trial court (bench trial) found for Posner on the account annexed and treated the overtime hours as separable, while rejecting the employer’s contention that Posner had to repay wages already received before suing.
Issues
- Whether an employee under a fixed-term weekly-wage contract requiring limited overtime without extra pay, when wrongfully discharged, may recover in quantum meruit for overtime work alone as a separable component.
- Whether an employee suing in quantum meruit after wrongful discharge must tender back amounts already paid under the contract, or may instead credit those payments against the reasonable value of services.
Decision
- The Supreme Judicial Court held the employee could not maintain a quantum meruit claim for overtime work alone.
- The Court held the employee could sue in quantum meruit for the reasonable value of all services rendered, treating weekly wage payments as part payments to be credited against the total value.
- The Court held the employee was not required to repay or tender back wages already received as a precondition to bringing the quantum meruit action.
Legal Principles
- After wrongful discharge, an employee may elect either (a) contract damages for breach or (b) quantum meruit for the reasonable value of services rendered as if the special contract did not exist.
- Where the contract contemplates an integrated performance (a year of employment with variable weekly hours including required unpaid overtime), the employee may not isolate and reprice only the overtime component in quantum meruit.
- In a quantum meruit action following wrongful discharge, prior payments under the contract need not be returned; they must be credited as part payment against the employee’s recovery for the value of all services.
Conclusion
A wrongfully discharged employee under a weekly-wage, fixed-term contract requiring limited unpaid overtime may recover in quantum meruit only for the reasonable value of the entire performance rendered to the date of discharge, with credit for wages already paid, and may not seek separate restitution for overtime alone.