AtWill Employment

1
At-Will Employment

• Management 610
• Seminar in Human Resources
• John Richardson
• March 12, 2003

2
At-Will Employment

• Who Started At Will Employment
• What does At-Will Mean?
• In Support of the Employee
• In Support of the Employer
• Termination Cases
• Employer Safeguards

3
At-Will Beginnings

• Horace Wood (1877)
• Master and Servant
• English Law
• At-Will Becomes Recognized

4
At-Will Defined

• Employment at-will simply means that an employee
  may be terminated by an employer at any time,
  with or without cause. Similarly, the at-will
  employment relationship allows an employee to
  leave his employment with the employer at any
  time, with or without a reason.

5
In Support of the Employee

• Employment Contracts
• Union Contracts
• Protected Classes
• Public Policy
• Implied Contracts

6
In Support of the Employer

• Ability to Terminate
• Flexibility of Workforce
• Continued Positive Reinforcements
• Productivity of Workforce
• Punitive Damages

7
Employee Termination Cases

• Foley v Interactive Data Corp (1988)
• Guz v Bechtel National Inc. (2000)
• Dillon v Champion Jogbra (2002)

8
Employer Safeguards

• Signed Agreements of Tenure
• Statements of Modification
• Reiterate in Handbooks Policy Manuals
• Consistency (Applications, Job Descriptions)
• Management Training

9
Questions?