Please advise on the following scenario:
Background:
Hiretime hired Ron Black as manager of real property for Hiretime in Vermont, responsible for activities related to maintaining leased office space. In that role, Ron supervised 51 employees and lower-level supervisors, and dealt with tenants who leased commercial space. For the job, Ron relocated from another city 300 miles away, moving his spouse and children, selling and buying a home, and dealing with a spouse having to quit her job to seek employment in the new state.
After Ron had been on the job for three months, his boss explained that things did not seem to be working out, and said that Ron would be discharged with 30 days severance pay. Ron was surprised because his employer gave no indication of any problem on the job. Hiretime's Personnel Manual, which had been provided to Ron upon his acceptance of employment, outlined the process for dealing with unsatisfactory employees:
Notice of Unsatisfactory Performance/Corrective Action Plan
If the job performance of an employee is unsatisfactory, the employee will be notified of the deficiency and placed on a Corrective Action Plan (CAP). If the employee performance does not improve to a satisfactory level within the specified period of time, termination will follow.
Ron acknowledged that upon employment, he signed an understanding that the company observed employment at will with respect to employment and discharge, but believed that the above provision limited Hiretime's freedom to fire him at will. Finally, Ron observes that Hiretime senior management was "noticeably unfriendly" after Ron had been vocal at a local school board meeting. In the meeting, Ron insisted that school sports funds should be equally allocated among all student athletic programs, not just concentrated on the boy's football and basketball programs. His position on the matter was unpopular, and although no one at the school board meeting identified Ron as a Hiretime employee, he believed that this contributed to the Hiretime decision to discharge him.
Questions:
What liability and rights, if any, do Hiretime or Ron have in this situation?
What legal principles (statutory or case law) supports those rights and liabilities?