Krizan v. Storz Broadcasting Co.

Kenneth Krizan (plaintiff) was employed by Storz Broadcasting Company (station) (defendant) as a radio announcer or disc jockey pursuant to a written contract for a fixed term. As an announcer, Krizan’s daily duties were divided into airtime, during which Krizan was on the air playing records and participating in other live programming, and production time, which primarily involved making taped commercial announcements. Announcers frequently arrived late for scheduled production time without consequences. There was evidence that management wanted to implement a more stringent policy regarding tardiness, but it was not clear whether anyone had communicated to Krizan that tardiness would no longer be tolerated. The station conducted a promotional event in which another announcer, Herb Holiday, planned to set a record for uninterrupted broadcasting. In the early morning hours of March 10, Krizan was advised that Holiday’s collapse was imminent. Krizan went immediately to assist with keeping Holiday awake and continued the program with another announcer after Holiday collapsed and was taken to a hospital. Krizan stayed on the air until 4:00 a.m. Krizan then went home and fell asleep until 2:00 p.m., which caused him to arrive 55 minutes late for his scheduled production shift that afternoon. Krizan was summarily dismissed for being tardy without calling to report that he would be late. Krizan sued the station for breach of contract. The station argued that it had terminated Krizan for cause because he was tardy and had not called to notify his supervisor that he would be late. The trial court entered judgment in favor of Krizan, and the station appealed.