Employment-at-will Doctrine

Employment-at-will Doctrine

Employment “At-will” - In a nutshell

The “at-will” employment doctrine indicates that employment of an employee is for an undefined amount of time and will be terminated with or without the consent of the employee. This approach was taken by the counts to explain and understand the relationship between the employer and employee as far as employment is a concern. This doctrine grants the employer enough power to control and manage the workforce the way s/he wants. It has made many of the critics centralize their discussion on the unequal bargaining power between the employer and employee. Also, it has opened the door towards the creation of unions to facilitate the balance the power. The formation of unions has provided ample grounds for demanding good faith bargain as far as job security, employer and other benefits are concerned (Law.cornell.edu, n.d.). The doctrine is quite prevalent among the US employers who have used their rights to fire their employees for any reason whether good or bad reason. The “at-will” group comprises of all the employees which are not protected with any employment contracts fired only for good cause. The good cause obligations are now predefined by the bargaining agreements as per employee unions. However, non-union workers seldom have this protection. Among the rest, the United States of America is the sole country which has the dominant industrial power and follows employment “at-will” rule. Apart from United States, the countries who requires employees to showcase a “good cause” before subsequent firing; includes, France, Great Britain, Canada, Japan, Italy, Germany and Sweden (TheFreeDictionary.com 1980).

The doctrine received serious criticism in the late twentieth century which caused severe increase in the demand of safeguard of worker's rights via means of contracts, property theories and torts. The rise of such alternatives has caused intense decrease in the union membership, especially in the private sector (Law.cornell.edu, n.d.).

Diversified Scenarios

In question, a total of eight diversified scenarios were asked to be evaluated. In order to analyze each of the eight cases, critically. A good knowledge of the exceptions of employment-at-will doctrine should be borne in mind. There are three types of key exceptions.

First one is the public-policy exception which addresses the employee's firing or termination against an unambiguous and clear public-policy of the state. In most of the states, a worker cannot be fired on the basis of filing a compensation claim on workers' behalf,

Second main exception of the doctrine sis regarding the implied contracts between the worker and employer. However, the employment is not governed by the contract; rather an employer has to communicate the adverse employment actions through oral or written means. This exception is followed in 38 states of US.

Third exception is related to covenant of good-faith. This exception has been implemented in eleven US states. Rather than pinpointing the termination based on the implied contract or public policy, this exception interprets that either the termination is based against the “Just Cause” reason, or it is made due to personal malice or bad faith ...