Hua Cai v. Huntsman Corporation

This case presents two independent, substantial legal issues that have divided the courts of appeals: . 1: Usually employer and employee will sign a set of policy documents on top of employment contract, such as Employee Handbook, Code of Conduct, Code of Ethics, etc. These documents sets forth employee rights and obligations, provides complaint protocol, and outlines consequences for failure to comply with it, specifically discipline and termination. Non-retaliation policy is an important component. The question is do these policy documents constitute legally enforceable contracts? Does the policy statements, especially the non-retaliation statement creates enforceable contractual obligations if there is no disclaimer disavowing contract right? 2: Usually to determine if a document constitutes legally binding contract or not, the court will closely examine if the document contains the essential elements of a contract: offer, acceptance, consideration. But in this case the Federal Judge invented new approach, he ruled that the policy statement do not constitute a contract because he could not find the contents normally contained in an employment contract (e.g. salary, duration...). The question is can judge decide the contract does not established because the particular content that judge deems necessary does not exist?