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Employment At Will Doctrine By Terry Halbert And Elaine Ingulli

Decent Essays

Terry Halbert and Elaine Ingulli describe the employment-at-will doctrine by stating that employers have the broad discretion to fire employees “for a good reason, a bad reason, or no reason at all.” Employment-at-will is a legal rule that developed in the nineteenth century, giving employer’s unfettered power to “dismiss their employees at will for good cause, for no cause, or even for cause morally wrong, without being thereby guilty of a legal wrong.” In some states, courts have set limits by means of contract law. There are two main approaches: 1) to imply a promise of “good faith and fair dealing” in the contract of employment, or 2) to imply contractual terms (not to dismiss except for good cause, for instance) from an employer’s …show more content…

And if employers put their employees “between a rock and a hard place”, expecting them to participate in breaking the law or be fired, most courts would again see a violation of public policy, triggering the tort of wrongful discharge. Some states do not recognize the tort at all. In New York, an employer could be fined for refusing to allow an employee time for jury service, the employee could not then sue for wrongful discharge. Maryland has a more conservative view on identifying violations of public policy. (Halbert & Ingulli 2012) Ellen started a blog to protest the CEO’s bonus, noting that no one below director has gotten a raise in two (2) years and portraying her bosses as “know-nothings” and “out-of-touch” Ellen started a blog to protest the CEO’s bonus, noting that no one below the director has gotten a raise in two (2) years and portraying her bosses as “know-nothings” and “out-of-touch”. However Ellen can exercise her first amendment rights, Ellen also have to act as an employee of the company and represent the company in the most upright position. Ellen can be fired simply because she is ruining the company’s image and reputation. When hired by an employer, they are hiring individuals who will place their company integrity and mission ahead of their own selfish

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