Can I terminate an employee “at will” without getting involved in costly litigation?
The general rule in California is that employment is “at will,” meaning that employees may be terminated for any reason with or without prior notice. The exceptions, however, often swallow the rule. The following are some examples of the myriad exceptions to the “at will” rule that the employer should be aware of: • Discrimination and public policy violations – An employee cannot be terminated based on sex, race, national origin, disability or other protected categories. Though this may sound like common sense, violations of this can be as simple as hiring a younger person simply because you want to have a more youthful work force. • Retaliation for employee actions – An employee cannot be terminated or punished for exposing a company’s violation of the law or for exercising their rights under the law. An example of this would include “whistle blowing” any sort of illegal actions conducted by the company or exercising a legal right, such as voting. Back to the top What constitutes a co
