LABOR RELATIONS

Should an employer have the right to terminate employees?



Should an employer have the right to terminate employees?

Termination - involuntary or voluntary - requires knowledge of employee rights and employer responsibilities. An involuntary termination occurs when an employer makes the decision to end the employment relationship. A voluntary termination occurs when the employee decides to end the employment relationship (Kaufman, 2004). The reasons for either involuntary or voluntary termination vary; however, many of the same rights and obligations apply to either type of termination.

In this essay, we will discuss that should employer have right to terminate an employee? Employers' rights vary when it comes to employees who leave the company and end the employment relationship. Although some state laws provide certain rights to employers, many other states are silent on what rights an employer has when an employee walks out on the job. In this case, issues such as job abandonment, the employment at-will doctrine, unemployment compensation and employee reputation are issues to consider when examining employers' rights (Blyton et al, 2008).

Employment-at-will means that both the employer and the employee are in their employment relationship voluntarily, and both are free to terminate the relationship at will. To the employer, this means that they can terminate any employee any time they want, with cause or without, with notice or without, and are under no obligation to even provide the employee with a reason for their termination (Ackers and Wilkinson, 2003). Now, all of us know that employers do have restrictions placed on them by law which prevent them for terminating employees because of their membership in a class protected by law (race, gender, etc.). Likewise, if there is a written employment agreement, that may trump that at-will nature of the relationship. Another legal protection is what is commonly referred ...