McGurn entered into negotiations to begin work at Bell Microproducts as a regional vice president. McGurn was
Question:
McGurn entered into negotiations to begin work at Bell Microproducts as a regional vice president. McGurn was eager for any employment agreement to include a termination clause that would entitle him to six months pay and half his commissions if he were to be fired. Bell Microproducts at first balked and presented McGurn with an agreement absent any termination clause. In response, McGurn indicated he would be satisfied with a termination clause that covered only the first two years of his employment. Bell Microproducts sent him a revised employment agreement with a termination clause; however, as written, the clause covered only the first 12 months of McGurn’s employment. McGurn signed and dated this agreement, but he also crossed out “twelve months” as the term of the termination clause and replaced it with a hand-written “twenty-four months.” He initialed that alteration, which appeared in the middle of a two-page document about five inches above his signature. No one from Bell Microproducts noticed McGurn’s edit to the agreement until McGurn’s supervisor decided to fire him for poor performance 13 months after McGurn’s start date. Did Bell Microproducts accept McGurn’s counteroffer of a 24-month termination clause based on its silence on the subject for over a year?
Step by Step Answer:
Business Law The Ethical Global and E-Commerce Environment
ISBN: 978-1259917110
17th edition
Authors: Arlen Langvardt, A. James Barnes, Jamie Darin Prenkert, Martin A. McCrory