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Many of the states in the US follow “employment at-will” wherein an employee may be terminated for any reason at any point of time. However, the employee should not be terminated due to any discriminatory reason like gender, race, national origin, or another protected category. One may be fired for simple reasons as well (such as “bad talking”, gossip, or a personality conflict). The company may need to give severance pay if the employee files a lawsuit for improper termination. It would be better for companies to know their rights and responsibilities before terminating an employee without notice. Below are a few questions that have been answered regarding termination without notice: Would one be abiding by law if an employee is terminated without notice or compensation?
The employment agreement would normally define the termination clause. If there is no employment agreement then it would be an “at-will employment” where the employee may be terminated for no reason at all and at any point of time. However, the termination should not be for prohibitory reasons that have been defined by law. Such companies are not required to give severance pay if the employee is fired without notice. What can an employee who has been appointed by the union do if he/she has been terminated without any notice because of workforce reduction?
Unions generally make sure that the terms as per which the employee may be terminated, the notice period, severance pay and compensation are detailed in the employment contract. The terms are not governed by law, but the companies would need to abide by the terms of the contract. The employee should approach the union representative to make sure that the terms mentioned in the union contract are abided by. However, if the situation is not resolved, the employee may hire the services of an attorney to file a law suit for compensation. An employee, who is a parolee, had provided full disclosure at the time of hiring. However, when the management changed, they terminated him/her without providing any notice and on the false allegation of drug abuse in the state of Georgia. Would this be considered legal?
Georgia is an “at-will” employment state where an employee may be terminated at any point of time and without giving any reason as long as it is not an illegal, discriminatory termination. The state of Georgia is one of the three states that do not recognize major exceptions to at-will employment. The exceptions include: 1. Implied contract exceptions — where an implied contract limits the right of the employer to terminate an employee even in the absence of a written instrument.
2. Public policy exceptions — in which no employee may be terminated in breach of the state's public policy doctrine.
3. Covenant of good faith and fair dealing exceptions — in which employer may not fire an employee in bad faith or on grounds motivated by malice. However, one may file a claim of defamation due to the false statements that were made against the employee. For the claim to be successful, the employee would need to show that the false statement was made in front of a third party which has had a negative impact. Is it lawful for an employer to terminate an employee for taking frequent leaves for therapy? This employee had worked with the company for the past eight months and the company did not give any notice prior to termination.
An employee may be eligible for Family Leave Act (FMLA) – that safeguards one’s job when one is incapacitated by a serious illness. However, this would be applicable only if the employee has worked for a year or 1250 hours in a company. As per the scenario mentioned above the employee has worked only for eight months; therefore, the employee would not be able to avail FMLA. If there is a company policy of providing the employee a chance to improve prior to being fired and the employee has not been provided this; then the employee may have a case. At-will employment would imply that the employee may be terminated for any reason or no reason at all at any given point of time. The employee may also quit or stop working. However, the terminations should not be made due to illegal discrimination and adherences to the implied contract exceptions. It would be in the best interest of the employees as well as the employers to know the law completely before any terminations is made without notice. You may ask an employment lawyer if you have any questions regarding termination without notice.
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