The information on this site is informational only. For legal advice you should talk to an employment attorney.
Have you ever worked with someone who seems to get away with more or appears to be immune to the “normal treatment” from the boss?
Or maybe you’ve heard “rumors” after someone mysteriously disappeared, that it was with a hefty severance package?
Chances are they made themselves a member of a protected class which acts to hold the employer at bay for fear of a retaliation claim .. or it was worth the hefty severance to remove the headache the employee became.
There Are No Employee Rights For “At Will Employment”
There is only a very small percentage of people in the US who are not at will employees. And they know it because they have an employment contract.
At Will Employment is a doctrine which guides the employment laws and the United States recognizes it, but individual states may create exceptions to the doctrine.
The doctrine means that an employer can fire you with or without cause anytime they like and you can quit with or without cause anytime you like.
At least the employer can fire you as long as their reason for doing so doesn’t call into question their motivation for doing so.
Employee Rights Are Laws That Create Exception To Employment At Will
But usually, you have to become a member of a class created by one of the exceptions, by asserting the employer is violating your right to a protection.
Finding the class you are a member of and then letting the employer know you know you are a member of is key to controlling your destiny at work.
Everything begins with Federal laws as the minimum and required protections and a state may expand the protections to at will employment with their labor laws.
Do Any of these groups include you? And do you think you are experiencing some type of treatment based on being a member of that group?
- Are you a member of one sex .. a man or a women.
- Are you 40 or older?
- Are you a member of a race?
- Do you have national origin
- Do you have a disability or does a family member have a disability?
- Do you have a religion
- Are you pregnant?