Assignment 1: Employment-At-Will Doctrine

Shanekia Jordan Professor Kimberly Ford LEG 500: Law, Ethics, and Corporate Governance 10/29/2013

Employment-At-Will is a policy that most states in the United States conform to in terms of employment. “At-Will” is when an employer can end a relationship with an employee at any given time, for any reason with the exception of an illegal one, for no reason without having any legal liability. At the same time, the employee is also free to leave their job at any point, for any reason, without any legal consequences. “At-Will” employment does not have a definite period of time, and can be altered by a written contract from the employer. There are exemptions to the doctrine: * Illegal Discrimination: An employee can be protected from an adverse employment action because of their membership in a legally protected class (race, sex, age, disability, etc.) * Retaliation: An employee can also be protected from an adverse employment action if the employee engages in protected activity (whistleblowing, opposing unlawful discrimination practices, etc.)
Common law has also created exceptions to employment-at-will. Courts in some states have set limitations by grounds of contract law. Those two approaches include: * “Imply a promise of good faith and fair dealing in the contract of the employment.” * To contractual terms from a handbook, policy statement, or behavior. (Halbert & Ingulli, 2012).
Only a few states use the first approach, and while most states recognize the second approach, employers are more unlikely to make any implied promises that might go against the at-will rule. Instead, companies will more than likely to promise the opposite. The following scenarios will discuss at-will in more depth as well as ethics that may be used.