Employment Law-Diversity

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Thomas Barwin v. Village of Oak Park

Case No.: 21-2007

Officials: Rovner, St. Eve, and Jackson-Akiwumi, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Employment Law-Diversity

Village manager Thomas Barwin resigned under threat of termination two and one-half years before his pension rights vested. Barwin alleges that his former employer, the Village of Oak Park, Illinois, breached its contractual duty of good faith and fair dealing in two ways: first, by forcing him out of his job in order to prevent his pension from vesting, and second, by refusing to honor its practice of allowing senior employees to purchase out-of-state pension credits in order to meet the vesting threshold. This court agrees with the district court that Barwin has no plausible contract claim for breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing based on an expectation that the Village would not fire him or force him to resign in order to prevent him from reaching retirement eligibility, and so that claim was properly dismissed at the pleading stage. As an at-will employee, Barwin had no enforceable expectation that he would remain employed long enough to meet the vesting threshold. However, the court believes the district court erred in entering summary judgment against Barwin on the claim that his employer breached its duty of good faith and fair dealing by not allowing him to purchase out-of-state pension credits as it had historically done with other employees. His employment contract entitled him to the same benefits that other senior employees of the Village enjoyed “by practice,” and based on the facts presented, a finder of fact could reasonably conclude that the Village had a practice of allowing such employees to purchase out-of-state pension credits.

Affirmed in part, reversed in part,

Decided 11/22/22

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