Many states, including Texas, subscribed to the basic principle that an employer should have the right to fire someone for “good cause, bad cause or no cause at all.” This principle is called “at will employment.’ Many times it seems unfair to the employee, particularly in a bad economy where finding another job can be quite difficult, but it is based on the principles of freedom and liberty. In particular, for a small company it can make a lot of sense. Each employee is a critical but expensive resource. Employers need flexibility to adjust their payroll as necessary to meet their business needs and sometimes that might mean firing someone for reasons that others may not appreciate.
Imagine you are a one person business and you hire one person. While the person does a reasonable job, you simply do not like and do not get along with that person. In short, your personalities clash. As the owner of the business you are miserable “going to work” because you are being forced to work with and pay someone that is driving you crazy. Is it fair to force that employer to work and pay a person they do not want to be around? What impact would strict firing requirements have on the unemployment rate if employers’ hands were completely tied on firing decisions? Every hiring decision would be deterred out of concern that an unforeseen problem could develop and the employer would be stuck with the employee or risk facing a lawsuit.
There are, however, various exceptions to the “at will” rule that have been adopted by statute to accommodate those situations that are unacceptable to society. Under federal and most state laws, an employer cannot fire someone for discriminatory reasons such as race, religion, age, gender or sex (this is where sexual harassment comes in). An employer cannot fire someone because of a disability if that person can do their job with reasonable accommodations, of for taking an unpaid medical leave for things like seeking treatment for a serious medical condition, taking care of a sick dependent or taking care of a newborn. Likewise, an employer cannot fire someone for refusing to do an illegal or immoral act. And if there is a contract for employment that addresses the term of the employment and procedures for termination, the contract controls.
However, some of these exceptions cannot be enforced unless the employer has a minimum number of employees as prescribed by the law. (In Texas, a business must have at least 15 employees for at least 20 months out of the year to be prosecuted for discrimination reasons, or in the case of the Family Medical Leave Act, at least 50 employees.)
And what about those circumstances where an employer is hostile towards or unfairly harasses an employee for reasons that have nothing to do with job performance or any of the discriminatory reasons noted above? Does the employee have a legal basis to seek relief? There may be common law options for extreme cases of harassment or hostile work environment such as a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress, but if that harassment of hostility is not related to one of the protected classes described above, the employee’s options are limited. While this might not seem fair to employees, keep in mind an employee can quit for any reason at all without any repercussions, even if that employee walks out on the job at a critical time that causes substantial injury or damage to the employer.
While there are times when unfair consequences result from employment separation, balancing freedom with fairness is what has kept “at will employment with some exceptions,” the law of the land.
