Doron v. Eastern Washington University

MICHAEL E. DORON, Ph.D., a single man, Appellant, v. EASTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, a state of Washington public four year institution of higher education; UNITED FACULTY OF EASTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, a public employee organization; LTNITED FACULTY OF WASHINGTON STATE, a public employee organization; WASHINGTON EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, a state of Washington nonprofit corporation; ARSEN DJATEJ, a married man; SUSAN MEGAARD, a married woman; DUANNING ZHOU, a married man; and ELIZABETH MURFF, a married woman; REX FULLER, a married man; NIEL ZIMMERMAN, a married man, Respondents.

No. 31636-0-III

Court of Appeals of Washington, Division 3

December 9, 2014

UNPUBLISHED OPINION

FEARING, J.

Eastern Washington University (EWU) hired Michael Doron for a tenure-track position as an Assistant Professor of accounting. After his second annual review, EWU offered Doron reappointment with an improvement plan. Doron refused to participate in developing an improvement plan, after which EWU deemed Doron to have refused reappointment and the school terminated his services.

Michael Doron sued EWU and various university administrators alleging breach of contract, violation of the covenant of good faith violation of promises, wrongful discharge in violation of public policy, disability discrimination, and wrongful withholding of wages. The relevant contract is a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between EWU and Doron's union. Doron sued some of EWU administrators also for defamation. Doron also sued his union, United Faculty of EWU (UFE), and the union's state-wide bodies, United Faculty of Washington State and Washington Education Association (WEA) for breach of the duty of fair representation and for tortious interference with business expectancy. The trial court granted summary judgment on all claims. We affirm.

FACTS

Because the trial court dismissed all of Michael Doron's claims on summary judgment, we consider the facts in a light most favorable to him. Because of the many claims of Doron, the outline requires an extensive review of written agreements documents, and correspondence.

Michael Doron graduated from Miami University in 1993 and then worked as an accountant in Columbus, Ohio. He became a licensed Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in 2000. That same year Doron earned his masters in accountancy from Case Western Reserve University. From 2003 to 2005, Doron taught a variety of undergraduate and graduate level accounting courses. In 2009, based on his dissertation titled, "The End of the Disinterested Profession: American Public Accountancy 1927-62, " Doron earned his PhD in history from Texas A&M.

Michael Doron applied to EWU's College of Business and Public Administration (CBPA) to become a professor of accounting in a tenure-track position. Rex Fuller was then the dean of the business school, and Professor Arsen Djatej sat on the hiring committee. Djatej had met Doron at a conference and encouraged Doron to apply for a position with EWU.

Before offering Michael Doron employment, Dean Fuller and Professor Djatej discussed whether Michael Doron would be "academically qualified" for purposes of EWU's College of Business and Public Administration's accreditation with the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). The association is regarded as the benchmark for gaging business school quality among the academic community. According to Jerry Trapnell, Special Advisor to the President of AACSB, the Association expects accredited business schools to employ "highly qualified" faculty as effective classroom teachers committed to continuous improvement. Clerk's Papers (CP) at 2591, A "qualified faculty member" is "one that demonstrates currency and relevancy in his/her academic discipline to ensure that the classroom environment is supported by the recent and relevant information from theory and practice." CP at 2591. For accreditation purposes schools must classify and justify each and every faculty member.

According to EWU Provost Rex Fuller, "academically qualified" requires publishing papers in the field of accounting. AACSB would consider Michael Doron, with a degree in history, to hold a degree in a field other than accounting. Therefore, for Doron to be "academically qualified" under AACSB standards, Doron "would have to consider ways to publish in more direct areas of accounting, such as auditing and other fields that he was assigned to teach." CP at 1423. Under AACSB standards: "The greater the disparity between the field of academic preparation and the area of teaching, the greater need for supplemental preparation in the form of professional development linked to the area of teaching, " CP at 2593. The standards also read: "Regardless of their specialty, work experience, or graduate preparation, the standard requires that faculty members maintain their competence through efforts to learn about their specialty and how it is applied in practice." CP at 2593. A potential problem arose with EWU's hiring of Michael Doron since the Department of Accounting and Information Systems did not offer an accounting history class.

Dean Rex Fuller spoke to Michael Doron about the need to publish in a direct area of accounting. Doron asked if co-authorship with another would meet the requirement, and Fuller answered "yes." Arsen Djatej also spoke to Rex Fuller about coauthoring with Michael Doron.

To retain accreditation, 50 percent of a business school's instructors must be "academically qualified under AACSB standards." Fuller and Djatej agreed that Doron's PhD in history, and dissertation in accounting history, would qualify as a "related field" to accounting. So long as Doron's research and publications related to his field of teaching and demonstrated "currency and relevancy, " Doron could be academically qualified. Accounting research is more empirical in nature than historical research. The history of accounting is more history than accounting.

Arsen Djatej promised to train and help Michael Doron meet EWU's research expectations. Djatej later testified:

And part of the reason he approached me, because we had a somewhat similar background, academically I mean. And I told [Doron] that I did a transition myself to empirical study and I know the pattern, so I will help him to do the pattern; I will train him and mentor him to do the same thing. That was the discussion before [Doron was hired.]

[T]he general idea when it comes to research was, when he comes, I will be the one who would share my experiences making transitions from what we call qualitative research to more quantitative, empirical type of research. And that was the general understanding.

CP at 1436-37. Doron similarly testified:

[I]t was part of my understanding I was recruited to come to Eastern to work with Arsen [Djatej]. He would be co-authoring papers. If you want to say that was a promise of part of my employment, I guess it does qualify as that, yes.

It was my expectation that when I came to Eastern, that's what would be happening. Arsen has some projects, one or two of them he would bring me on, and I would be doing some work for him on those projects and I would be co-author.

Q: And who do you claim made that promise to you?

A: [Doron continuing] There was-well, Arsen obviously, is the one who had to make that promise.

CP at 1456.

On February 28, 2009, a member of the hiring committee, whose name is removed from the message, e-mailed Arsen Djatej, writing:

Dinner went well with Mike [Doron]. He's talking about where to locate in Spokane when he gets here. If we get an offer out soon, we should have an excellent chance to hire him. Your assurances of support for his research made a big difference in his attitude.

The dean [Rex Fuller] also made a good impression and discussed summer support with Mike. The dean indicated that Mike's research in accounting history will be accepted at EWU as long as it is in a [peer-reviewed journal].

CP at 1463 (emphasis added).

On March 5, 2009, business school Dean Rex Fuller offered Michael Doron a probationary, six-year tenure-track position with EWU as an Assistant Professor of Accounting and Information Systems (AIS), a department within the School of Business and Public Administration. A written offer set a base salary of $85, 000 and allowed an $8, 000 increase "upon the acceptance/publication of two peer reviewed journal articles (PJRs) in accounting, " afforded summer research stipends, and granted reimbursement of up to $2, 500 in moving expenses. CP at 228. The offer letter specifically noted:

This offer is contingent upon receipt of satisfactory transcripts from all institutions of higher education you have attended. All other conditions of employment are set forth in the Collective Bargaining Agreement between Eastern Washington University and the United Faculty of Eastern, University rules, policies and procedures, and applicable state and federal laws.

CP at 228.

On March 17, 2009, EWU re-extended the same offer, but with a starting salary of $93, 000. The March 17 letter stated: "If you believe you have been promised anything that is not included in this letter, do not sign and return the letter until you have called the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs." CP at 231. On March 30, 2009, Michael Doron accepted EWU's offer. Doron later testified that he accepted based upon Arsen Djatej's and Rex Fuller's promises that Djatej would be available to coauthor academic papers with Doron.

The CBA between EWU and the UFE governed Michael Doron's employment. Many sections of the agreement are critical to this appeal. Section 1.1 appointed UFE as the "exclusive bargaining representative regarding matters of wages, hours and terms and conditions of employment. . . [for]...