Argumentative Essay: The At-Will Employment Relationship

Improved Essays
There are few apparent advantages for employers using an at-will employment relationship. First of all, the employers can terminate an employee at any time for any reason, with none legal liability, except the reason is illegal. As a result, employers can depend on their need to arbitrary hire and fire the employees for their emerging future projects. This is an advantage for the small company to effectively control their finance. Second, the employers are able to change the employment relationship’s terms without notice. It means the employers are able to adjust their employees’ wages, terminate benefits, or paid time off base on the revenue of the company. Third, the company can reserve the right to modify policies and procedures at any …show more content…
Since the at-will employment relationship is favored over both employers and employees’ job security, so the employees can leave their job at any time for any reason as well. The unstable environment in the company will create a culture of fear for employees then seriously affect their performance then it will cause the company struggle financially. Although the at-will is a legal presumption, the practice is only legally permissible if an employment relationship is not bound by a formal, written contract. Therefore, in order to reduce the wrongful discharge lawsuits, many federal provisions have been introduced to protect employees from the at-will. For instance, the employers cannot terminate their employees under the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act and the Family Medical Leave Act. Also, they need to follow the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures. As a result, even though the at-will policy is implementing in many businesses, the policy has not become more convenient between employment relationships. In fact, the businesses still need to have a formal process of termination to avoid to become a victim in wrongful discharge

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Allen Lopez Case Summary

    • 828 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In the case of petitioner ExtremeNet versus respondent Allen Lopez, this case occurred in the State of Georgia in which At Will Employment Law applies. Respondent is making a counter claim. The respondent had worked for the petitioner for seven years in a middle-management position. The respondent found the position rewarding and was well paid. The petitioner struggled to manage the effects of an economic downward spiral; therefore, some employees were laid off and new personnel policies were implemented.…

    • 828 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    According to the textbook, an employment at-will “allows the company or the worker to break the work relationship at any point in time, with or without any particular reason, as long as in doing so, no law is violated (325).” The company is going to claim that Charlene was fired because her one mistake cost them thousands and thousands of dollars and if this occurred once then it could occur again in the future. They will also state that her contract extended the first three years because her work performance those years were satisfactory. However, this year her performance was not good and did not meet their expectations and therefore had to let go of her because she was costing them money instead of bringing in money. If the organization keeps an employee who cannot do their job then not only is the organization harmed but also the employee.…

    • 1827 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    A contract is a written or spoken agreement that is enforceable by law. For a contract to be valid, parties must be legally competent, there must be an offer and an acceptance, consideration must be given and the purpose of the contract must be legal. An employment contract is a written document between an employee and an employer setting forth the terms of their relationship. Generally an employment contract will have a start date, compensation, type of work, hours of work, is the bonus guaranteed or discretionary, vacation time and other benefits. Other key issues addressed are type of employment – employee or contactor, non-compete agreement, insurance.…

    • 259 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Fmla Pros And Cons

    • 303 Words
    • 2 Pages

    To address whether the employee leaves granted by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) represents an undue burden on employers required to comply with the Act it needs to clarify that this Act provides employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year. This information which is provided by the United States Department of Labor also explains that during the leave the employees also maintain their group health benefits. (1) For the employee side, this act is a fantastic solution that makes life batter outside the home-work routine. Thanks to this act, employees now get to have time to enjoy vacations and time with their family.…

    • 303 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Another problem businesses have with extending maternity leave is the fact some employees never return from maternity leave at all. This can be particularly saddening if the employee was well-liked, but other employees wait until the minute to notify their supervisors they will not be returning. At that point, the temporary employee has already been given their last day and the employer must begin the whole recruitment process over again. Many employers also become frustrated with women who come back from leave and expect the same pay and level of authority, but also the flexibility to work fewer hours and to leave early for soccer games and ballet recitals. Some employers have even admitted that there is a temptation to avoid hiring young…

    • 477 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Banning The Box Essay

    • 1066 Words
    • 5 Pages

    If the defendant sued in either of these cases, I believe that the business could easily defend themselves as to why they terminated the employee. The reason is as simply as safety and protection against other…

    • 1066 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Case Study: Acme Fireworks

    • 1757 Words
    • 8 Pages

    As of now we have fifteen at-will employees working for us full-time along with ten new employees. However, this does not mean I can fire an employee due to having a bad day or not liking the individual. I have the duty to the principal to act in good faith, treat the agents fairly, and not to be discriminate against them. Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, prohibits employers or managers to terminating an employee due to their color, national origin, religion, and sex. (Suzy, 2012 pg.…

    • 1757 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    An impactful method of dealing with the growing numbers of child removal rates due to food insecurities, abuse and a lack of adequate housing would be to increase minimum wage to a living wage. With the ability to afford a basic living, parents/guardians are able to provide their children with the substantial support they need to thrive. Consequently, financial stability will dramatically decrease the number of maltreatment cases for a great sum of people, but more specifically, children of racialized, single mothers. When looking back at the statistics of people dependant on minimum wage, it becomes clear that racialized, single mothers and their children are the most vulnerable to this inadequate wage. As a result, there will be an immense…

    • 278 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Five mats - one for each child and then an extra for herself. When Maria Garcia moved from Mexico, she had imagined a different life for herself and future family. The United States promised her freedom, but she didn’t get any. Held hostage by her low income (personification), she was a slave to her bills. Everyday digging herself deeper, and deeper into the hole of impending debt, dreading the day her oldest child would ask if he could go to college.…

    • 1545 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Minimum wage to a child/teenager may not seem very important, in fact to a young child/teenager it may just seem useless, but to anyone that is in the workforce, and works countless hours a week, it is your life. Minimum wage affects the way someone lives, and has since it was created in 1938. That minimum wage was introduced as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The FLSA also covers things like youth employment standards, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and standards for government employees at the local, state, and federal levels. But prior to the FLSA, at least one state had passed its own minimum wage laws.…

    • 666 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Many debates on the impact that raising the federal minimum wage could possibly have on employment and the American economic system can be viewed on television today. Most of the arguments run along party lines with the yes vote on the Democratic side and the no vote on the Republican side of the aisle. Recently, on the Fox News channel, two people with differing opinions discussed the President’s desire to raise the minimum wage from $7.25/hour to $9 per hour. Mark Hannah and Tony Sayegh disagreed on the advantages and disadvantages for the increase of minimum wage.…

    • 491 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Hungry for Change Why is it that law mandates public school meals have a minimum calorie intake, but not a maximum? This owes itself to the fact that when nutrition standards were established for public schools, it was to solve the problem of undernourishment. The majority of school aged children used to walk to school, played more outside, and were more active in sports. This resulted in children burning more calories than school meals provided.…

    • 1157 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Hey guys, I don't demand any attention just some patience for the sake of not being too nervous. Let's just start, well, The topic that I had choosen, or better said I had decided to use was “ The Busing Debate” This means, my whole paperwork was literally about a plan to prompote school desegragtion in the United States of America.…

    • 257 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Immigrant workers come to America in search of a better life. However, when they arrive they are faced with many hardships: inability to speak English, discrimination, and unfair wages in the worst jobs available. Due to earning low wages, immigrants live in unacceptable housing conditions. Because of their illegal status in the United States, immigrants are constantly taken advantage of. In spite of all the pain and suffering, field workers still work very hard to pick the fruits and vegetables American shoppers demand.…

    • 1360 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The article, Key Trends in Workforce Management and New Challenges for HR by Marc Moschetto (2017) illustrates common experiences that HR professionals tend to face with new laws and regulations as well the automated management process. These key findings for these challenges were based off the results from an extensive survey of HR professionals which exemplifies common trends across the board from organizations of various sizes. Though, HR departments are becoming more acclimated to compliance changes, operational management remains a critical consideration for competitive success. Therefore, the survival of the fitness for the business world must be adapting to the technology advances to endure this evolving corporate journey. According,…

    • 996 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays