Imagine you work for an employer, you are not in a union, your job is not protected by tenure and you didn’t sign any kind of binding contract for employment. Your manager can let you go at anytime if they want to. Now some people say this is not fair. There is this term called employment –at-will. According to the supervision text employment-at –will is a “legal concept that employers can dismiss employees at anytime and for any reasons, except unlawful discrimination and contractual or other restrictions (Leonard 193).” This was first set forth in Payne v. Western & Atlantic R.R. Co. it was stated “… to discharge or retain employees at will for good cause or for no cause, or even for bad cause without thereby being guilty of an unlawful act per se…a right which an employee can exercise in the same way… (Twomey 584).” Meaning, an employee is under no obligation to continue employment with an employer if they don’t want to; they are free to terminate their employment at any time as well. More than eighty percent of the nation’s workforce is employed at will and they don’t have the backing of a union, the government or individual negotiators to intervene in “no cause” termination. “The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws adopted the Model Employment Termination Act, which individual states may enact to protect the millions of at-will workers employed in the United States from being discharged without “good cause (Twomey 585).” This paper will discuss the exceptions used to determine if there was a wrongful discharge, look at cases for examples and the states positions on recognizing exceptions. It does seem unfair for an employer to terminate an employee without cause. But our federal and state governments h...
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In dealing with a person’s livelihood, and often, sense of self, it is of no surprise that ethical issues regarding employment practices are of great concern. The issues of employment at will and due process contracts in the workplace are among the most widely contentious in the realm of employment. Employment at will is the doctrine that employment may be ended, by either party, for good, bad or no cause at all.1 Due process, on the other hand, is the employment practice in which a person may appeal a decision as a means of receiving an explanation and the opportunity to argue against it.2 Employment at will is the standard in the majority of private corporations today and is argued for relentlessly by freedom of contract enthusiasts, however, it is becoming ever more apparent that employment at will contracts reflect the old corporate maxim where the single bottom line, profit, is accented and the well being of other stakeholders, in this case the employee, are of little or no influence. Due process should be accepted as the prevalent employment system as it shelters employees from the hostile actions of the more powerful employer, provides a stable, bilateral contract between both parties and portrays the growing ethical concerns of society.
Mortimer, M., 2006. Employment Law and Labor Law. Employlaw.com retrieved December 11, 2008 from: http://www.employlaw.com/hoffa.htm
Employment at will is a law that is present in all fifty states in the US; although, in Montana there requires a stated cause for termination. Employment at will creates dissent among employees when they have been terminated for a cause that is thought to be unsubstantial or when no cause is given. There are pros and cons to the presumption, and employees and employers have different views. Employment at will means that the employer can terminate an employee at any time, for any cause without warning. However, even an at-will employee cannot be terminated because of discriminatory reasons. Employment at will also means that an employee can leave a job at any time without the fear of facing any legal consequences. An employer can also change the terms of employment without notice and no penalties. Throughout this paper, the two sides to employment at will will be discussed, and different examples of employment at will cases will be given. At its most basic, employment at will is not the best path because it can create feelings of violation and betrayal in the employee and can create a negative public opinion or loss of profit for the business.
Legislation in Ontario affects human resources. Some can be bad well others can be beneficial to the workplace. My paper will be focusing on the federal legislations in Ontario and how it is improving various non-unionized workplaces. At the end of my report I will be summarizing the concept of family status related to the 11 prohibited grounds in a case study regarding a single mom and how she almost lost her job with CN Rail.
Glickman, C. D., Gordon, S. P., & Ross-Gordon, J. M. (2010). SuperVision and instructional leadership (9th ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon. ISBN-13: 9780132852135
Rue, L., Byars, L. (2010). Supervision: Key link to productivity. (10th ed.). New York, NY:
Frunizi, George L., and Patrick E. Savini. Supervision: The Art of Managment. Prentice Hall, Inc. Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1997
Most employees of state governments in the USA are not at-will employees. And most members of labor unions in the USA are covered by a written contract, called a "collective bargaining agreement” that contains a clause specifying that their employment can be terminated only for just cause. This clause makes union members not at-will employees.
Glickman, C. D., Gordon, S. P., & Ross-Gordon, J. M. (2010). SuperVision and instructional leadership (9th ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon. ISBN-13: 9780132852135
The doctrine of employment at-will provides that employers may hire, transfer, promote, or terminate employees at any time for any cause, and employees have the right to resign at any time with or without notice (Reed & Bogardus, 2012)....