Easy v. State of Montana Department of Natural Resources & Conservation

This case arose in the First Judicial District Court, Lewis and Clark County, Montana. Fred Easy, hereafter the plaintiff, appeals from the District Court’s instruction to the jury that a laid-off state employee is entitled to a “tie-breaker” preference in rehiring by state agencies. The plaintiff argues that the state employment policy affords him an absolute preference in rehiring by the State. The State contends that the intent, interpretation, and constant application of the policy has been as a tie-breaker preference, i.e. giving laid-off state workers a preference if they are as…