Employment at Will
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Employment at Will
The doctrine of employment at will states that the business should have the freedom to discharge or retain employees at will for good cause, for no cause, or even for bad cause, without thereby being guilty of an unlawful act unless the reason for discharge is illegal or unless it is in violation of a contract or union agreement (Sentell 1). Both parties are free to exchange on whatever terms they see fit. There are many reasons why employment at will is very beneficial including employees can quit when they like, employers can fire an employees who less productive, barging for a raise, and much more, therefore it should not be abolished.
One benefit to the employment at will doctrine for the employers is that it allows them to dismiss an employee that they feel is not performing the stated job requirements or to the best of their ability. The doctrine also gives them the authority to fire a person who may be meeting the jobs requirements but whose presence in the company is not conducive daily at the work environment. This could be caused by unstable attitude, personality or inexcusable actions committed outside of work that may represent the company negatively. Many businesses are very vulnerable so this benefit of employment at will is great for small businesses and for new businesses. If they hire an employee and find they cannot do what the job requires, if they lied to the company whether on their employment application about their experience or in general, just cannot get along with co-workers, follow any direction, or stole from the company the employer can terminate the employee without giving them a reason.
A key benefit for employees working under employment at will is being able to easily change jobs. If another job opportunity comes along and you are not able to quit the current job in time, a great chance could be missed. Since opportunities are often unforeseeable, being able to quit jobs quickly is beneficial to employees. Also emergencies may come up in which an employee is unable to correctly deal with, unless they can stop working for a certain period of time.
Another benefit that employees have is quitting if they are dissatisfied with their employer. Jobs can be unpredictable, turning out to be different then what an employee expected and they may lose interest in the position. For example, a new worker might have been told that he will be taking on a leadership role, but instead is given tedious jobs that they are not pleased with. With at will employment employees have the flexibility to commit to a job and later leave if it is not the right fit. People can be desperate for employment and chose jobs quickly in order to meet the demands of life and it would be unfortunate for someone to commit to a job they later regret taking.
Employment at will makes an employer much more willing to take a chance on hiring new people. An employer knows that if things do not work out, they can always let the person go. If there was no employment at will employers would be unwilling to take chances on applicants that may raise concerns. Without the doctrine a company could be stuck paying an employee for a long period of time, even though the employee is not performing well. It can cause the company a financial loss. A company always tries to avoid that problem, therefore the hiring process is much longer and employees that have a risk of performing poorly are not given a chance. An employer also has the ability to hire and fire employees based on the needs, resources of the organization, and the preferences of management which can truly help a business.
Another plus of employment is that parties may seek to change the terms of the agreement at any time and for virtually any reason, or for no reason at all. This is both great for the employer and employee. Many positive changes that can be made are that an employer can adjust wages, make a permanent time for an employment period, add benefits, add a probation period, or increase paid time off. If a probationary period is added it will be a great way for an employer to try out an employee before making the position permanent. The benefit is that the employee and employer have time to see if things work and can find out if it is the right fit. If not they may part ways before either has made a major commitment. If it does work out, they can be more secure that they made the right decision and the security of permanent employment may exist.
When it comes to increasing wages, at will employment offers the best opportunities to workers. If an employee is under contract to work for a period of time at a certain wage, there is no obligation for an employer to increase pay. Employees making demands in this circumstance are not in a good position to do so, since they have already committed to the wage they are willing to work for. With at will employment, employees can bargain for a raise or benefit for whatever reason they can think of. For example, the employee may feel that they are being underpaid and deserve higher wages or that they should have more paid vacation days. Another possibility is a worker being given a better offer by another business, which puts them in a position to ask for higher wages from the current employer. If the current employer decides to increase wages then they could choose to stay at their job or if the employer does not increase wages the worker can go to the other job at no loss. At will employment gives employees more control over their job situations and bargaining power.
There are many benefits to employment at will and a variety of exceptions to the doctrine. The first kinds of exceptions are common-law exceptions based on public policy, implied contract, or covenant of good faith and fair dealing (Lanza and Warren 1). The main focus in public policy exceptions is that an employer cannot take negative action against an employee for fulfilling legal obligations or for exercising their legal rights. Public policy includes refusing to commit illegal or unethical acts, exercising legal rights, performing a legal duty, and whistle-blowing. An implied contract is when an agreement is implied for certain circumstances. There does not have to be a formal written contract between the employee and employer. Implied contracts are an exception and can prevent employers from having an employment at will relationship with there employees, because the implied contract creates certain obligations that the employer must follow. Implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing means that a termination may not be acceptable if the employer did not act with honesty, or has caused harm without any explanation (Lanza and Warren 1).