NEW DEVELOPMENTS CONCERNING THE DOCTRINE OF EMPLOYMENT AT WILL

Abstract

The “Employment At Will” Doctrine was created in the United States in the late 1800's. This Doctrine was created in 1894 in the case of Payne v. Western & Atlantic RR, 81 Tenn.507. In this case the Court said that “employers do not need a reason to fire employees — they may fire any or all of their workers at will — even if the reason for dismissal is morally wrong”. This was due to the Industrial Revolution which increased competition among businesses. With the increased competition, businesses needed to find additional ways to remain competitive that were not previously needed. One of these ways was the need for the employer to run his or her business as they saw fit. Therefore, it was reasonable at that time, and still is today, that an employer be able to hire or fire “at will” so as to react to downturns in business or take advantage of opportunities. Thus, the “Employment At Will” Doctrine was created. This Doctrine stated that an employer has the “authority to discipline or terminate, with impunity, an employee for any reason‐even a bad one‐or for no reason at all”. This Doctrine was favoured by employers since it gave them extreme freedom to run their business as they saw fit and protected them by the courts at the same time. Unfortunately, it also allowed for misuse by employers in that it allowed for an employer to terminate an employee for: no reason, based on whether the employee was male or female, due to religion, whistleblowing, refusing to do illegal acts, not allowing sexual harassment, and a host of other reasons.

Citation

Butsch, R. and Kleiner, B.H. (1997), "NEW DEVELOPMENTS CONCERNING THE DOCTRINE OF EMPLOYMENT AT WILL", Managerial Law, Vol. 39 No. 1, pp. 54-59. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb022479