At Will Research Paper

863 Words4 Pages
“At Will” Employment University of Phoenix BUS 415 Charles Spain December 8, 2010 Job applicants and new employees are often surprised to read a job application, employment contract, or employee handbook that they will be employed "at will." They are even more surprised when they find out exactly what “at will” means: An at-will employee is an employee that can be fired at any time, for any reason without much of an explanation. If the employer decides to let you go, that's the end of the job; and there are very limited legal rights to fight the termination. If you are employed at will, your employer does not need good cause to fire you. Every state in the United States is an “at will” employment state other than Montana (The Legal…show more content…
Many employers are careful to point out in applications or employee handbooks that their employee agreement is to work at will. If there was not a signed at-will agreement, usually within the handbook or company intranet there is specific language pointing out the “at will” policies of the company. Even if the employer does not use the term "at will," statements that include you can be fired without good cause are indications that the employer follows an at-will…show more content…
As an example, a signed two-year contract that states an employee can be fired during the contract only for committing a crime, then the employee is not an at-will employee. If the employee is fired for any reason not specified in the contract, the employee will have a legal claim against the employer for breach of contract. Aside from a written contract, the only way an employer can not fire an employee at will is if there were verbal exchanges stating “as long as you do a good job, you’ll have a job” or “we will only fire those unable to meet our standards”, and the employee is able to prove those statements were made. Just about every employer is subject to federal and state laws prohibiting job discrimination, therefore an employee cannot be fired because of race, religion, or gender, discrimination or harassment. An employee also can not be fired “at will” for taking family and medical leave, serving in the military, voting, or jury duty. To protect the right to fire at will, employers ask new employees to sign a written statement agreeing that they are employed at will. Usually the “at will” language appears in the application, the contract or offer letter, or an acknowledgment form from the employee
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