What should you know about employment at will?
Preserving your organization's right to terminate employees is a key to preserving the flexible decision-making ability necessary to react to business events and opportunities.
Restrictions on firing at-will employees. Federal and state laws and court decisions have begun to erode at-will status, with a continuing trend to limit employers' rights to terminate at will. Be sure to check State Laws for any laws that apply in your state(s).
Statutory exceptions. Federal and state laws banning discrimination in employment include at-will employees within their protection. Therefore, an at-will employee may not be fired on the basis of the employee's race; sex; religion; disability; national origin; age; or veteran/military status. These laws also prohibit discharges of employees in retaliation for filing of discrimination complaints.
Other employment-related laws also can limit employers' freedom to fire at will by extending protection from retaliation. For instance, laws governing wages, workplace safety, labor-management relations, and workers' compensation prohibit employers from firing employees for filing complaints under those laws.
Court-created exceptions. Many state courts have modified the concept of employment at-will by finding that a discharge violates:
some tenet of "public policy;"
an "implied employment contract," based on either terms in an employee handbook or statements said during an interview, that limits the right to discharge; or
an "implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing."
Reprinted with permission. © CCH
What should you know about employment at will? Preserving your organization's right to terminate employees is a key to preserving the flexible decision-making ability necessary to react to business events and opportunities.
What should you know about employment at will?
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