Assignment 1 Code of Conduct Assessment

Employment-At-Will-Doctrine

Kristine Scott

Professor Ellen Kapalko

LEG 500-Law, Ethics & Corp. Governance

July 25, 2013

Summarize the employment-at-will doctrine and evaluate each of the eight (8) scenarios described by determining:

The Employment at Will doctrine is the basic law applying to the workplace, except for specific statutory exceptions created by the legislature or courts (Harcourt, Hannay, & Lam, 2013). With the development of the doctrine, the courts tried to develop a balance between the rights of the employees and employers. The balance the courts adopted is that the courts do not want to limit an employer's right to fire an employee and, in exchange, will not limit an employee's right to quit and move on to a different or better job. The Employment at Will doctrine means that an employer may fire an employee for any reason, no reason, or even a morally wrong reason (Halbert & Ingulli, 2012).  The employer can also change the terms and conditions of employment, such as work hours, or even job duties.

-John posted a rant on his Facebook page in which he criticized the company’s most important customer. Employees have always complained about their jobs, bosses, and coworkers. Today, complaints and rants can reach a much larger audience than in the past from blogs, tweets, posts, uploads, and can be dispersed to millions of others. Employees can be legally fired from posted rants because the employment at will state for any reason or no reason. The legal and regulatory landscape around employers’ rights, employee free speech, and social media is still evolving so it depends on the employer. Employers need to be up to date on the latest developments, and carefully craft social media policies that protect the company’s reputation but will also stand up in court and before regulatory officials. Under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) of 1935, private-sector employees, including non-union employees, have certain rights to...