Employment-at-Will Doctrin

Employment-At-Will Doctrine

Dattatreya Shodhan

SU200173813

Strayer University

LEG500

Dr.  Charity Lanier

08/01/15

Introduction

Employment-at-will doctrine is a legal rule that is referred in the text which was developed in the nineteenth century, giving employer’s unrestricted 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.” Its legal substructures consisted mainly of “freedom of contract”, the idea that individuals are free to choose how to dispose of what they own, including their labor and the voluntary pledged promise they make are legally enforceable. Also, there are some exceptions to the rule which includes that employers are not allowed to use the law of at-will to threaten employees, which came out in the mid-30s and helped to protect employees from being fired. Secondly, the exceptions include civil rights laws which protect an individual from being fired because of color, national origin, race, religion, age, disability or sex. Lastly, an exception of taking revenge from an employee who reports illegal activities running within the organizations, for example, Sarbanes-Oxley Act. (Halbert & Ingulli, 2012)

Evaluate scenarios described by determining: (A) whether you can legally fire the employee; include an assessment of any pertinent exceptions to the employment-at-will doctrine. (B)The primary action(s) that you should take to limit liability and impact on operations; specify the ethical theory that best supports your decision.

Recently-hired as a Chief Operating Officer in a midsize company preparing for an Initial Public Offering. I have discovered multiple personnel problems that require immediate attention. As a...