|
Generally under an
employment which is “At Will”, either
party (the employer and the employee)
can break the relationship with no liability.
Suffice to say, the employer is free to terminate
at-will
employees for good cause, or bad cause, or no cause
at all and the employee is equally free to quit,
strike, or otherwise cease work. The termination of
an “at-will employment” therefore, is
merely
based upon the desire of either the employer or
employee.
There how however,
exceptions to an at-will employment. There are
legal limitations to the
termination of an at-will employment and these
are:
- First, if there is an
express contract governing the employer-employee
relationship and the
employer does not belong to a collective
bargain, the employment relationship is not
considered at-will.
- Employees may be
terminated en masse in instances such as closure
of the business or
downsizing, but ability to terminate workers en
masse must always have a valid
reason.
- Other valid
termination reasons include: termination be due
to a merger, workforce
reduction, change in company direction and
business focus, and poor company performance.
- Another limitation to
employment at will is “promissory
estoppel.” The employer is
estopped from terminating an employee at will if
the employee can show that:
- The employer made a
clear and unambiguous promise of further
employment.
- The employee relied
on the promise.
- The employee’s
reliance was reasonable and
foreseeable.
- The employee was
injured as a result of the
promise.
- The employer may also
not fire an employee if the ground for
termination is unlawful or
illegal, such as termination due to
discrimination against nationality, race,
gender, age,
religion, disability and any other protected
characteristic.
- Under the doctrine of
public policy, employers also cannot fire their
employees if it is
against the state's public policy or a state or
federal statute. Under the theory of public
policy,
an employee cannot be fired if: 1. He refuses to
do an illegal act punished under the state
or federal statute.
- For exercising his
statutory right such as collection of
Worker’s Compensation or availing
of the Family and Medical Leave Act.
- For being a
whistleblower – reporting the illicit or
illegal activities of his employer or
company to the government.
- For engaging in acts
encouraged by public policy such a jury duty and
the like.
__________________________________________________________________________
|
