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Assignment 1: Employment-at-Will Doctrine Essay

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Assignment 1: Employment-At-Will Doctrine
Ian Keller
Strayer University
Law, Ethics, and Corporate Governance
LEG 500
Professor Joyce Weddle
April 21st, 2013

Introduction Jennifer is a recent college graduate who has been hired by an accounting firm. In the short time she has been employed with the firm she has discovered a number of behaviors she feels could be inappropriate regarding the employment-at-will doctrine as well as some liabilities with the employer. She has brought this up only because she feels obligated to report the behaviors’ in which she has witnessed and wants to ensure she won’t be held liable for not informing the management team (LEG 500 - Law, Ethics, and Corporate Governance, 2012). Jennifer identified four …show more content…

The company would be able to ensure a quick processing of this particular termination if they could show that all the times this particular employee was late, was documented in writing. This should always be done in any given case of tardiness or un-authorized absence. The Employment-At-Will Doctrine means that an employer can terminate an employee at any time for any reason, except when the reason was illegal or for no reason without incurring legal liability (At-will employment – overview, 2013). Under the doctrine, the employer can change the terms of the employee’s employment with no notice and the company would still have the right to terminate the employee. An example, although it may seem unfair would be if the employee was hired at a certain amount and the employer wanted to reduce that amount, the employer could legally do so without violating any law or rights of the employee. Once the employer reduced the pay, they could still terminate the employee and not be in risk of breaking any laws or violating anyone rights (At-will employment – overview, 2013).
Labor and Laws
In this scenario the employee takes an un-authorized day off from work to observe her religious holiday. This holiday falls on a day that is during “tax season” and the day off occurred during an incredibly busy period for the company. Prior to this time frame the company announced to all of its employees they were not allowed to take off during

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