First things first, the disclaimer: Yes I am an attorney but I am not your attorney so NONE of this is legal advice. NOTHING I say or do on reddit will ever be legal advice. If you need an attorney please contact your state bar association for a referral.
Hey y'all. Based on my last post about Pay Secrecy it is clear to me that we need to have a chat about the basics of At-Will Employment in the USA. There were quite a few comments on that post indicating that someone still couldn't enforce their rights in the workplace because they live in an at-will state. This is not how at-will employment works. So let's begin.
At-will employment simply means that there is no employment contract and thus your employer may terminate your employment at any time for any legal reason. This also means an employee can quit at any time for any legal reason.
There are two key points I wish to make here regarding this sub:
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“any LEGAL reason” – Legal is the key word. You cannot be properly fired for illegal reasons. This is wrongful termination. If your employer wants to terminate you due to you asserting your rights in the workplace (like talking about your wages, discussing unions, calling out sexual harassment, etc.) then that would be illegal and wrongful termination.
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Employees can QUIT at any time for any legal reason – I have seen a lot of questions regarding “two weeks notice”. This is a formality and absolutely not required. With at-will, an employee can quit on the spot just as an employer can fire on the spot. The road goes both ways.
So what is pretext? As you can imagine when an employer wrongfully terminates an employee they typically try to create a legitimate reason for the termination. This is what we call pretext. Pretext is a made-up reason for an action that disguises the true motive.
Pretext is so common in employment law wrongful termination suits that there is an entire framework for it. Without getting into too much legalese, the basic framework for these cases is that the employee sues their former employer alleging they were wrongfully terminated due to an illegal reason. The employer will then assert that the employee was properly fired due to a legal reason and the burden will shift to the employer to prove the legal reason. There are other factors involved but that is the basic layout. (Again, consult with an attorney if you need legal advice.)
Helpful links (These are all links I found that explain more about at-will employment and pretext. I am not affiliated with any of them. I just like them for the information contained within.):
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https://www.ncsl.org/research/labor-and-employment/at-will-employment-overview.aspx
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https://www.nelp.org/press-clips/cities-are-working-to-end-another-legacy-of-slavery-at-will-employment/ (NELP is great and I recommend following them if you are on IG or Twitter.)
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https://www.plbsh.com/what-is-pretext-in-an-employment-law-case/ (For information purposes only. I know nothing about this firm so do your own due diligence.)
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www.worker.gov is a great resource for worker's rights in general.
Note: These posts are intended to be a general overview of the basics of employment law and worker's rights in the USA. If you need more information it is best to consult with an employment law attorney within your jurisdiction. If others from outside the US have any information that they would like to share I would welcome that as well.
Once again, no legal advice is contained herein.