Defendants’ motion for summary judgment should have been granted. As plaintiffs contract for employment was expressly at will, and she could be fired at any time with or without cause, her claim for breach of contract should have been dismissed (Murphy v American Home Prods. Corp., 58 NY2d 293, 304-305 [1983]). Nor was a claim of promissory estoppel available to avoid the at will doctrine (Dalton v Union Bank of Switzerland, 134 AD2d 174, 176-177 [1st Dept 1987]). This is particularly true where, as here, the express, written acknowledgment by plaintiff that she was an at will employee precluded any reasonable reliance on alleged oral assurances that her job was “secure” (see New York City Health & Hosps. Corp. v St. Barnabas Hosp., 10 AD3d 489, 491 [1st Dept 2004]). Moreover, given that the defendants were in charge of plaintiffs duties, and they were charged with deciding or recommending her termination, they were acting in the scope of their employment. As such, neither the employer nor its employees could be liable
Presler v. Domestic & Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States
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