絕望主婦女角Nicollette Sheridan之訴仍存續。

正如絕望主婦影集粉絲所知，Nicollette Sheridan（飾演Edie Williams）於該劇第五季末集被安排電擊而慘死。Nicollette Sheridan隨即起訴主張Touchstone電視公司及該劇編導Marc Sherry違法終止伊與公司的契約；伊懷疑因她向媒體透露於拍攝該劇某集時，Sherry有對她動粗所致。Nicollette Sheridan於Touchstone決定不再與伊續約時，獲得175,000美元報酬。
在法院認定無效審判後，案件進入上級審，由上級審判判斷Nicollette Sheridan之訴是否適當地闡明違法終止契約的請求權基礎。法院最終認定「沒有」；因為支撐違法終止契約訴因的前提必須是有終止，才能合理化本件訴訟。本件，Nicollette Sheridan非被終止，因為Touchstone未為終止，其僅決定不與Nicollette Sheridan續約，亦即其與Nicollette Sheridan間的契約係約滿而屆期失效。該判決未擴大適用大多數加州受僱人與其雇主無定期雇傭契約，取而代之視受僱人與雇主係任意訂約。

One interesting takeaway from the case was the court’s decision to allow Sheridan to amend her complaint to allege that Touchstone retaliated against her for complaining about unsafe working conditions. Hypothetically, Touchstone’s failure to renew her contract would be a sufficient “adverse employment action” to support a retaliation claim even though she was never technically terminated.

The takeaway from this case is to make sure that you take all employee safety complaints seriously, investigate them, and make clear that an employee lodging such complaints will not suffer any adverse employment action. It is also a good idea to have an employment attorney review your employee handbook to ensure it makes clear that the company won’t retaliate against employees making such complaints.