GIANTlegal
  • Home
  • Services
  • About
  • Blog
  • Contact

Blog.

Employment law 101: what is at will employment?

4/7/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
In employment settings, you often hear the term "at will" or "at will employee," but what does that really mean? It means that your employer can fire you for any reason or no reason at any time without any notice, so long as the real reason for firing you as the employee is not unlawful in some way. Almost every state has some iteration of at will employment laws. At will employment also means that the employee can leave when she or he wants as well.

Exceptions to at will employment include:
1. Employees with employment contracts (this is rare in Washington and Idaho)
2. Union employees bound by a collective bargaining or union agreement
3. Independent Contractors

If you are an at will employee, you are usually notified of that upon hiring, in an employee handbook, and in employer-led trainings. You should assume that if you are an employee in Washington or Idaho, and you don't fit one of the above-three exceptions, you are at will. Your termination is only unlawful (or, wrongful termination): (1) if you've been unlawfully discriminated against as a member of a protected class (veterans, women, persons of color, religion, sexual orientation); (2) if you've reported a violation of a local, state, or federal violation of a law or regulation; or (3) if your employer failed to follow its handbook procedures in terminating you (such as failure to follow progressive discipline policies that are in writing). We'll talk more about unlawful termination in our next Employment 101 post.

In the meantime, if you are an employee or employer with questions about being terminated or terminating, GIANTlegal is happy to help.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author.

    All blog posts are written by members of the GIANTlegal team, unless otherwise indicated. Information contained in our blog does not constitute legal advice, nor does it create an attorney-client relationship.

    Archives.

    April 2020
    March 2020
    December 2019
    July 2019
    December 2018
    December 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017

    Categories.

    All
    Abatement
    Age
    At Will
    Bankruptcy
    Breastfeeding
    Business Formation
    Business Setup
    Carpool
    Cell Phone
    Child Custody
    Child Exchange
    Child Support
    Civil Legal Matters
    Civil Motion
    Civil Trial
    CLEAR
    CLEAR Hotline
    Construction
    Consumer Cases
    Contingent Case
    Contractor
    Coron
    Corona
    Coronavirus
    Court
    Court Deadlines
    COVID 19
    Custody
    Discovery
    Discrimination
    Distracted Driving
    Divorce
    Domestic Violence
    Drivers
    Emergency Hearings
    Employee
    Employee Handbook
    Employees
    Employer
    Employers
    Employment
    Employment101
    Employment Contract
    Employmentlaw101
    Estate Planning
    Eviction
    Family Law
    Family Lawyer
    Family Leave
    Fired
    Flat Fee
    Fmla
    Food Stamps
    Foreclosure
    Free Legal Help
    Gender
    Gig Worker
    Government Shutdown
    HOV Lane
    Idaho
    Idaho Court
    Income
    Independent Contractor
    Inslee
    Job
    Jury Duty
    Jury Trial
    Landlord Tenant
    Lawyer
    Lawyers
    Legal Aid
    Measles
    Medical Leave
    Military
    Moderate Means
    Mortgage
    Mortgage Forgiveness
    New Mom
    Obesity
    Paid Leave
    Paid Time Off
    Parenting Plan
    Part-time Employee
    Personal Injury
    Phone Hearing
    Pregnancy
    Pro Bono
    Progressive Discipline
    Protection Orders
    Pto
    Public Service
    Race
    Rent
    Rent Forgiveness
    Residential Schedule
    Restraining Orders
    Retaliation
    Safe And Sick Leave
    Safe Leave
    SB 5975
    Sba Loan
    School
    Sexual Orientation
    Shelter In Place
    Sick Leave
    Small Business Owner
    Spokan Court
    Spokane
    Startups
    Tenant
    Termination
    Unemployed
    Unemployment
    Unlawful Detainer
    Veterans
    Virus
    Voter
    Voting
    Washington
    Washington Court
    Washington Law
    Washington Stae
    Washington State
    Washington Supreme Court
    Welfare
    Whistleblower
    Wills
    WLAD
    Work
    Worker
    Workers Compensation
    Wrongful Termination

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Services
  • About
  • Blog
  • Contact