What Does it Mean for an Employee to be Hired "At Will"?
Employment-at-will means that an employee can be terminated without cause. That is, it is the employer’s right to terminate him or her at any time with or without cause. But there are exceptions to this. The attorneys of litigious-minded terminated employees will use these exceptions to argue their case. The exceptions include the charge that the employer discriminated against the employee on the basis of the person’s age, sex, or sexual orientation; that the company is retaliating against the employee for having filed a workers’ compensation claim, or whistle-blowing, or for filing an OSHA charge against the employer; or that the employee is being discharged just as she or he expects to receive some anticipated financial benefit, like pension plan vesting.
If the plaintiff’s lawyer can prove any of these exceptions to the at-will relationship, then he or she may win the case against your firm. Which is why human resources experts advise that managers have a good reason to terminate and that employees be given written warning prior to their losing their jobs. This is particularly true if termination is due to problem performance.
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At present, most states, but not all, recognize at-will relationships. If you live in a state that does so, your organization can establish an at-will relationship with each and every employee it hires by communicating its status on employment applications, offer letters, and employee handbook, and any other documents that might be found in the new-hire package. Because some courts have denied companies’ right to at-will relationships because it has been too long since employees were told of the fact, firms are also advised by lawyers to issue annual at-will updates for their employees to sign.
The good news with all this is that you need not clarify verbally the work relationship, although you should be prepared to answer questions if a prospective hire sees the phrase and asks about it. The bad news is that whether or not your company has declared in writing its at-will relationship with its employees, you should be prepared, with documentation, to justify any decision to terminate an employee.