Assignment 2: Employment-At-Will Doctrine Whitney Larry Prof. Geronda Carter LEG500 2/6/2015 Page Break Made precedent by Payne vs Webster & Atlantic R.R Co., 81 Tenn. 507, 519-20 (1884). The Employment at will doctrine negates the responsibility of any employer for terminating an employee at any time, with or without just cause. The employment at will doctrine, does not only grant rights to an employer. The employee in return is also legally just, and "allowed to leave a position or job at any time, without reason void of any legal consequences. (Halbert & Ingulli, 2012) The law states that unless an employee and their employer have a contract specifying a term that the contract can be terminated for any reason. Additionally, an employer is allowed to increase or decrease wages and also can change their rules and policies which govern their workplace. The employment at will doctrine remains the default ruling unless there exists an exception that applies. There are multiple exceptions to the employment at will doctrine. Common Law exceptions are those based on precedent; previously handed down judgments by ruling of a judge to which the existing circumstance applies. Contractual exceptions specify a term for which the employee and employer agree upon. In stances, where contracts exist, the employee is no longer an employee at will and therefore cannot be dismissed without just cause. Another example of contractual exceptions, are Labor Unions. Implied
In addition, the “At-Will-Employment Law” gives the employer the capacity to unfairly change the terms of the employment relationship with no notice and no consequences.
Employment at will refers to employment practices that allow the employer and employees to terminate their employment at any given time. Company’s therefore can terminate an employee’s employment at any time for whatever reason or no reason at all. Richard Epstein favors employment at will and advocates for the principle. Epstein argues the proprietary rights, that employers have right to spend their money the way that they want. This means they have all control and decision making when exchanging money for certain labor. Epstein also mentions how employment of will acts as a freedom. For example, At will employment allows employees to freely choose to quit their job whenever they want as well as employers get to fire at anytime, therefore
An “at will” employee is an employee who agreed to a contract in which they can be fired at any time, for almost any reason. The law generally presumes that employees are employed at will unless they can prove otherwise.
The employment At-Will doctrine is in place to allow employment relationships to be restricted. It allows employers and employees to terminate a relationship at any time without cause. The doctrine will allow employees to quit without any fear of being held liable for any inconvenience or disruption to the business at the time of quitting. This doctrine also allows employers to make any changes towards an employee’s term of employment (N, 2017). However, some exceptions could prevent an employee to make those changes if the employee is covered in that particular area. Doyle A
Employment-at-will Doctrine is legal rule, which gives employers broad discretion to fire employees “for a good reason, a bad reason, or no reason at all” (Halbert, Ingulli, & Frey, 2015). The meaning of the term at-will lay in the will of employer to dismiss an employee at any time for any reason. From the other side an employee can feel free to leave a work at any time, without reason, and it will not have any unfavorable legal outcomes. Under at-will employer has right to make changes in the employment relationship agreement without any notification. Such changes can be applied to reduction of benefits, rate of wages or alteration in schedule of work. Employment-at-will may put employees in a vulnerable position. Under at-will conditions, employer has rights to dismiss employee with or without any reason. Such dismissal is limiting employee 's legal rights to dispute termination.
In a wrongful termination case, the terminated employee must prove more than having been treated unfairly, s/he must be able to prove one or more of his/her legal rights were violated” (Wrongful Termination Website, 2011). Employees in many states are at a disadvantage, possessing few rights, because of the employment at will rule, meaning employers can fire employees at any time and for no reason at all, just like employees can quit any time and for any reason. This makes the definition of wrongful termination extremely narrow.
| |How might managers in an organization use knowledge of employment-at-will and its exceptions | | |
In the state of Maryland, all employment is considered “at-will”. From the text, the definition of at-will employment is employers have the “…discretion to fire employees ‘for a good reason, bad reason, or no reason at all.’” (Halbert & Ingulli, 2012) From Maryland’s Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation, employment at will is defined as “In Maryland, employees work "at the will" of their employers. This means, in the absence of an express contract, agreement or policy to the contrary, an employee may be hired or fired for almost any reason -- whether fair or not -- or for no reason at all.” (https://www.dllr.state.md.us/labor/wagepay/wpatwill.shtml) Because of the employment at will doctrine, people risk losing their jobs for
On the contrary, employment at will is defended by Richard Epstein in his article “In Defense of the Contract at Will”. He is trying to show that the contract at will “is adopted not because it allows the employer to exploit the employee, but rather because over a very broad range of circumstances it works to the mutual benefit of both parties.” Then I will summarize the benefits of EAW that Epstein provides.
Employment at will is a law that is present in all fifty states in the US; although, in Montana there requires a stated cause for termination. Employment at will creates dissent among employees when they have been terminated for a cause that is thought to be unsubstantial or when no cause is given. There are pros and cons to the presumption, and employees and employers have different views. Employment at will means that the employer can terminate an employee at any time, for any cause without warning. However, even an at-will employee cannot be terminated because of discriminatory reasons. Employment at will also means that an employee can leave a job at any time without the fear of facing any legal consequences. An employer can also
The employer generally invests time locating a candidate to hire, and resources for salary, benefits and training to ensure success for both the employee and the company. The employee can terminate his/her employment at any time, for any reason; thus, leaving the employer at a disadvantage. The employer has to recoup the company losses by again invest time and money to hire another employee with no guarantee that the new hire will stay any longer than the previous employee. Is this fair or ethical behavior toward the employer? Do employers ask that the employee reimburse them for the time and resources expended to hire a replacement? Should they? In an effort to create equity in risk and benefit between employee and employer, the at-will employment doctrine allows the employer to terminate an employee at any time, for any reason. But again, is this fair or ethical behavior towards the employee? Don 't businesses have a greater amount of power than an employee in determining work environment and pay scale? Is it ethical for an employer to take advantage of their employees and fire those who make a high salary and replace them with employees with a lower starting pay in order to save money or distribute bonuses to top executives? Cornell University Law School notes that "given the unequal bargaining power between employees and employers, critics of this doctrine have noted its overly harsh results and have looked to unions, acting as certified
Based on facts and legal laws, the judge can look over the evidence and rules and make a decision. The employment-at-will doctrine clearly states that the employer can fire the employee at any time for any reason. There are many exceptions to the employment-at-will
Employment at will is essentially a rule that strips employees and employers from their rights to due process when it comes to workplace termination. Under this principle employers may let any person go for any reason at any time during their employment with or without just cause. Your stature at the company, time worked, personal conduct; none of those things have to be taken into consideration if you are let go. This means that if an employee does not agree with their grounds for termination, they have no legal right to fight it in a court of law. Employment at will also allows employees to quit their job at any time, again regardless of having just reasoning or not. The only case where an employment at will principle would not apply is if an employee, when hired, signed a document that stipulates other specific terms and conditions regarding grounds for termination/quitting. An important thing to make note of is just as if an employee had signed a contract, they are made aware before being brought on full time, that they are an “at will” employee. These soon to be employees are voluntarily signing that they abide by what is defined in the employment at will principle.
The company would be able to ensure a quick processing of this particular termination if they could show that all the times this particular employee was late, was documented in writing. This should always be done in any given case of tardiness or un-authorized absence. The Employment-At-Will Doctrine means that an employer can terminate an employee at any time for any reason, except when the reason was illegal or for no reason without incurring legal liability (At-will employment – overview, 2013). Under the doctrine, the employer can change the terms of the employee’s employment with no notice and the company would still have the right to terminate the employee. An example, although it may seem unfair would be if the employee was hired at a certain amount and the employer wanted to reduce that amount, the employer could legally do so without violating any law or rights of the employee. Once the employer reduced the pay, they could still terminate the employee and not be in risk of breaking any laws or violating anyone rights (At-will employment – overview, 2013).
Employment-at-will has been an established segment of common law in the United States, which states that either party to