Employment-at-will Doctrine

Employment-at-will Doctrine

Explanation of Employment-At-will Doctrine

The employment-at-will doctrine defines the position of an employee in an organization limited to a definite amount of time and s/he will be terminated sooner or later with or without his/her consent. Moreover, the doctrine presents the boss the right to organize easily and direct the company just the way s/he likes. This theory also provides quite an insight about the liaison between the worker and the boss. One of the drawbacks that it possesses is that due to excessive control power of the manager or the boss, company's workforce has severe job security and this makes them go for union formation. Unionization changes the dynamics of control in the organization but somehow balances the power distribution in the organization by the introduction of a truly new player. Apart from that, unionization of an organization helps to facilitate the employees a chance to demand their fair bargain (Law.cornell.edu, n.d.).

This doctrine is followed in the United States at large whereas other countries, which has provided a chance of 'good faith' includes Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Italy and Sweden. At-will doctrine serves to provide the employer the liberty to terminate any employee with or without any good or bad cause. Nevertheless, the good cause commitments are stated to the employee at the time of recruitment so that they can have their job security issues resolved. (TheFreeDictionary.com 1980).

However, there are some statuary as well as court granted exceptions against this doctrine. It is quite common among the employers to define the employment-at-will doctrine to the employees as well as explain of the status of writing signed by company's owner as well as employees as a medium of acknowledgement of his/her at-will status (Natlawreview.com, 2013).

The Eight Cases

Before proceeding further to the eight cases, knowledge of the three core exceptions should be borne in mind so that it can facilitate a better understanding about the domain of employment-at-will doctrine.

Implied Contracts

The first exceptional case is related to the presence of implied contract signed between the boss and the employee. However, the employment is normally not governed by the contract terms and condition rather it is the oral or written contract that the employer makes when s/he has some raised question for job security by the fresh recruit. Cases of Toussaint v. Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Michigan and Muller v. Stromberg Carlson Corporation are the best example of this exception. This exception has been implemented in over 38 US states due to its potential need.

Public Policy

Under the domain of public-policy exception for employment-at-will doctrine, an employee gets terminated wrongfully mostly by not following the direct order from top-level management against the public policy of the state. Common cases reported include the refusal to break the state rules and filing a workers' compensation form for other employees. The most famous case in this regard is of Petermann v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters. This exception is enforced in 43 states of US.

Covenant of good-faith

This exception is accepted ...