EMPLOYMENT AT WILL

Brandon Ashe
  BUSN203
 An employee at will is an employee without a contract guaranteeing a job for a specific

period, and could be fired at any time, for any reason, or for no reason at all. There are many

federal statues that made progress on the at will doctrine. One federal statue that prohibits

employers from discharging employees who exercise their rights is the Occupational Safety and

Health Act. Over 40 states courts and legislatures have made a dramatic change in the at will

doctrine. The changes these states have made is under three theories, tort, contract, and duty of

good faith and fair dealing. There is one major exception to the employment at will rule by

allowing the tort of wrongful discharge. Firing an employee for a bad reason is a wrongful

discharge. Discharging an employee for refusing to violate a law, discharging an employee for

exercising a legal right, for performing a legal duty, and in a way that violates public policy. All

of these would be considered bad reasons to fire an employee.

Discharging an employee in a way that violates public policy is probably the most

controversial basis for a tort of wrongful discharge. There is an inherent vagueness in the phrase

“basic social rights, duties, or responsibilities”. There is an exception in contract law that is

similar to these which states that the courts will not enforce contract provisions that violate

public policy. A nurse in Scottsdale, Arizona was discharged because she would not be part of

the group of her co-workers that bared their buttocks. When the courts reviewed the case; the

courts considered that “mooning” was a misdemeanor and that her employer could not fire her

for refusing to violate a state law. Some courts have included professional oaths and codes as

part of public policy. An accountant was discharged in Colorado for refusing to violate her

professional code. Her employer wanted to make numbers and results that were not true. The

Supreme court reviewed the trial court decision to refuse relief to a certified public accountant

who was discharged when she refused to violate her professional code. The Colorado Supreme
Court states that a certificate holder shall not in the performance of professional services

knowingly misrepresent facts, nor subordinate his judgement to others.

Most employers would not want their employees to testify truthfully at trial. A doctor

caused permanent brain damage to a patient; the patient family sued the hospital. When the

hospital found out that the patient family was suing; the hospital told the nurse that seen it all

happen that she would be in trouble if she testified. The nurse did testify, and she was fired after

being harassed for months. An employee should not be fired for refusing to break the law, so in

this case the hospital was held liable for the tort of wrongful discharge. An employee should not

be fired for serving a jury. Jury duty is considered an important civic obligation, and employers

are not permitted to undermine it. Many employers have a difficulty replacing employees that are

called for jury duty.

Contract law can modify employment at will. If oral promises were made in the hiring

process, then they may be enforceable. Top management may not have approved these oral

promises, but they could be enforceable. Many employee handbooks may create implied

contracts that specify personnel processes and statements that the employees can be fired for a

just cause or only after various warnings, notice, hearing, or other procedures. Some states

changed the at will doctrine by holding that every employer has entered an implied covenant of

good faith and fair dealing with its employees. This mean that the courts say that it is bad faith

and unlawful to discharge employees to avoid paying commissions or pensions due to them.

With this covenant any employee discharged without good cause such as incompetence,

corruption, or tardiness is actionable.

 WORKS CITED
Lau, T., & Johnson, L. (2011). 50.2 Employment At Will. In Legal and ethical
environment of business. essay, Flat World Knowledge, Incorporated