At-will employees are those who do not have a contract, such as a labor union ag

Question

At-will employees are those who do not have a contract, such as a labor union agreement, with their employer. If you are an at-will employee, your employer can typcally change your job description, duties, title, work location and schedule as he wishes and without providing you advance notice. However, there are certain situations in which an employer can find himself in violation of the law should he choose to alter your job description.

Any practical examples? Is at-will employment a good or bad thing? Shouldn't there be more predictability for the employer and employee?

Explanation / Answer

An employer can terminate or change the job descriptions under at-will employment without notice only if it is not illegal. The illegal activities may include the acts based on discrimination based on race, gender, age, and nationality. If the employer has acted against the employee based on discrimination it is illegal. Suppose if John is employee at will and 50 years old and his job description was altered based on the firm’s decision to reduce the responsibilities on aged workforce. The decision would be discrimination based on age and the employer will be liable for their actions.

Another example for illegal activity can be the situation where the employee’s job description was changed or employee was terminated when he refused to carry out an illegal activity suggested by the employer. For example consider John is a truck driver and the employer suggested him to drive the truck in more than permissible limit to reach the destination faster. John disagrees and the employer removed him from the responsibilities of that particular profit making division. This would be considered as illegal.

Another kind of illegal act by employer can be the situation where the employer break the promise of employment where the employee relied on his promise and got injured. Consider the case of an employee who quit his current job based on the promise from the employer and relocate to the new location for employment at will, but he was not given the position promised. The case would come under promissory estoppel and the employer can be liable.

In my opinion the at will employment is bad as it helps the employer to terminate the innocent employees also without any reasons. Though there are certain exceptions, they are not sufficient to protect the’ at will’ employees as the employers can show some other reasons for termination and escape from their liability. There should be more predictability for the employee employer relationship to avoid wrongful utilization of the policy and increase employee trust and commitment towards the organization.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse A
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.