Brandy,the President of ABC Communication

Multiple Choice

Brandy,the president of ABC Communication.,and Sam orally agreed that Sam would work as a computer programmer for ABC Co.for a three-year period.Their oral agreement also covered other matters such as his pay and the availability of one week of paid vacation.On the day he talked with Brandy,Sam signed an employee handbook including a provision that his employment was at will,meaning that at any time he could quit or the company could discharge him.A month later,Sam received a three-year contract for employment with ABC Co.in the mail incorporating the amount of his salary and other issues he had discussed with Brandy.Sam signed it and mailed it back,but he changed the vacation provision to three weeks instead of one week.Bobby,the human resources manager for ABC Co.,called Sam up after Bobby received the agreement and told Sam that the contract was only a draft for discussion purposes and that he was actually firing Sam because he seemed too focused on vacation.Assuming the court follows the reasoning of the court in the dispute discussed in the text involving Michael Gallagher and Medical Research Consultants,which of the following would be the most likely result in the dispute between Sam and ABC Co.if Sam claims he had a three-year contract of employment?

A) ABC Co. will win because even if a three-year oral agreement for employment was made, it would not have been enforceable because the statute of frauds requires that agreements that cannot be completed within one year be in writing. Further, the draft Sam returned was not signed by ABC Co.
B) ABC Co. will win because although the three-year oral agreement for employment was initially enforceable, Sam reopened negotiations by altering the later contract to provide that he was to receive three weeks of vacation.
C) ABC Co. will win because as a matter of law, no other document can alter the provisions of an employee handbook.
D) A jury will decide if Brandy orally agreed to a three-year contract; and, if so, Sam gets his job back along with the extra weeks of vacation.
E) As a matter of law, since the contract was sent to Sam, he received a guarantee of employment for three years; but he does not get the extra weeks of vacation he inserted.