Except for the state of Montana, employment in all other U.S. states is presumed “At-Will”. The U.S. one of the few countries where employment is predominantly at-will. The reasons for this include the respect for freedom of contract and the belief that both the employer and the employee want it more than job security. In most other countries in the world, employers can dismiss employees only for just cause. At-will employment means that the employer can dismiss an employee for any cause or for no cause without any legal liabilities. Similarly, the employee can leave a job at any time for any reason or no reason without incurring legal liabilities .
An employer can change the employment conditions such as wages, terminate benefits, or anything else with no notice. This leaves the employees vulnerable to a sudden termination, reduced pay and benefits and unannounced change in working conditions. This is the default situation for all U.S. companies that can be modified by a contract that can be written or verbal, with the contract providing termination after a specific period or only for just cause. The cause could be poor performance, misconduct or economic necessity.
Certain actions such as filing safety complaints with OSHA, going for military requirements and Jury duty, and similar public exceptions are reasons for which an employee cannot be terminated under at-will provisions. An employee cannot be terminated for refusing to commit criminal activities also. Employees under collective bargaining agreements are not under at-will employment. Implied contracts and oral contracts also require just cause for termination and at-will cannot be applied there.
For example, if an employee is informed about the company’s at-will employment policy in the job application as well as the employee handbook, and if the following conditions are met, then the employee can be fired at will;
There is no probationary period at the end of which a manager implies long-term job prospects
Performance appraisal systems which imply through goal settings that employment will be continued
An example of termination under at-will policy by the employee.
Employee A was hired by an employer. After a few months, A was terminated under provisions of at-will policy. A was never under probation and A’s job application, as well as the handbook, had the at-will disclaimer clearly printed on it.
An example of at-will policy misuse by employer
Employee B was hired by a company. The employee handbook stated 90-day probationary period as well as that it had an at-will policy. After 90-days of probation, a performance appraisal was completed and B was evaluated as having passed the probation period successfully. B was later fired using the at-will provisions of the employee handbook after a couple of months. Here the fact that the company used probationary period apart from performance appraisal implied that the employee was wrongfully terminated under at-will provisions and was terminated for cause only. Furthermore, the performance appraisal did not contain the at-will clause. Therefore, the probationary period implied a contract between B and the company. So, in this case, the at-will provision was misused.
References
Dana, G. (2016, April 8). At-Will employer and employee rights. Retrieved from smallbusiness.chron.com: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/at-will-employer-employee-rights-2666.html
Lisa, G. J. (2016, April 8). Employment at-will: what does it mean? Retrieved from nolo.com: http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/employment-at-will-definition-30022.html
Michael, H. A. (2016, April 8). Just cause vs. employment-at-will. Retrieved from businessknowhow.com: http://www.businessknowhow.com/manage/justcausevsfreewill.htm
NCSL. (2016, April 8). The at-will presumption and exceptions to the rule. Retrieved from ncsl.org: http://www.ncsl.org/research/labor-and-employment/at-will-employment-overview.aspx
