Question:
A truck driver sought employment with a company that hauls new cars. Truckers working for this company had to make expensive investments in tractor trailers. Before accepting employment, the truck driver was told that jobs were assigned to truckers without regard to seniority. He was also given a figure for the average monthly gross income of the company’s truckers over the past few months. Both of these were true at the time. However, the company was simultaneously involved in negotiations with the truck drivers’ union to change to a job assignment system based on seniority, a change that would necessarily reduce the income of new drivers. The company was pushing for this change and the manager with whom the prospective truck driver was dealing knew about the proposal. About two months after the truck driver took a job with the company, the new seniority-based system was put into effect. As a new employee, he received very few assignments and his income sunk far below what he had been told company drivers were making. The driver resigned and sued. What should the court decide? Why?