The concept of an employment contract seems simple enough: “You work for me and I pay you for that work.”
But there are some very important contractual nuances to the relationship between employers and employees that human resources professionals should be aware of and prepared to deal with.
First, not all contracts are written...
Every state except Montana follows the basic premise that employees who don't have a written contract are "at will." That means you can fire them (and they can quit) for any reason or no reason, as long as it's not illegal.
However, every state also recognizes at least one of the following exceptions to at-will employment.
Public...
A former employee's lawsuit recently survived a motion to dismiss because the employer's positive statements about her during interviews called into question its reasons for firing her.
Alleged discrimination
In February 2011, Valarie Coates applied for a senior management position at Cooper Health System (CHS). After interviewing her three...
The 3rd Circuit recently ruled that an employer's statements that its employees would remain employed if they did their jobs and stayed out of trouble didn't create an implied employment contract sufficient to overcome the presumption of at-will employment.
Facts
Karen McCrone, Daniel Arminio, Jose Hernandez, Emanuel Hodson, Denise Molineaux,...
Employers would like to think that the at-will-employment doctrine and your freedom to exercise business judgment provide insulation from discriminatory discharge lawsuits. The reality, however, is that discriminatory discharge suits — even ones in which the discharge was for cause — can survive a request for dismissal and head to trial...
Q We would like to establish a policy that provides paid Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave for corporate employees and nonpaid FMLA leave for all field employees. Is this legal? I’m concerned about a disparate impact.
A Paying employees who are on FMLA leave is voluntary. Therefore, nothing in the FMLA requires you to pay field...
An at-will employee can be fired for any reason as long as the reason doesn't violate a statute or North Carolina public policy. The North Carolina Court of Appeals recently decided that the firing of a small town police chief violated public policy. As a result, the court upheld a jury award of $100,000.
Background
Timothy Blakeley was hired...
Under Minnesota law, an employee may not bring a wrongful discharge claim against her employer unless she was terminated for refusing to violate the law. This is known as the public-policy exception to the employment-at-will doctrine. Recently, the Minnesota Supreme Court declined to expand the exception, refusing to recognize a new cause of...
In a recent win for employers, the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Western District in Kansas City found that a car dealer's firing of an at-will employee for violating a company rule that bars employees from purchasing an auto from another dealer didn't violate Missouri public policy. Read further to get a clearer picture of when a firing is or...
Q A senior manager in our company has recommended terminating her direct report for excessive tardiness. Our employee handbook contains a progressive discipline policy, but the employee has never been warned about anything. I told the manager we can't terminate the employee without following the progressive discipline process, but I received...
