Employment-At-Will Doctrine

Florida is one of the states where employment relationships can be terminated by either employers or employees at will. In addition, employers can dismiss employees from their organizations and at the same time employees can walk away any time they wish from the jobs even though there is no reason at all. At will policy however is limited in case the employment was based on a contract and the contract cannot be terminated (Charles, 2001). At will policy is different from the right to work policy since at will policy indicates that employers can fire employees at will and employees can walk away whenever they so wish. At will doctrine has however faced some exceptions but in Florida courts have rejected those exceptions since they argue out that employment relationships can be terminated at will by either employees or the employers. However if employers fail to comply with the federal employment laws, courts do not support them since employers should follow the federal employment laws and thus dismiss employees on valid reasons. Employees should not be terminated on wrong reasons since the federal laws protect and support employees and thus limit their terminations especially if the reasons are not valid (Charles, 2001).

Florida laws disallows termination of employees on the basis of discrimination either based on race, color, religion, disability, pregnancy, age and any other type of discrimination since employees are protected by the federal laws (Charles, 2001). Termination of employees based on these discriminations is totally prohibited in Florida and thus employees with many employees not less than 15 should comply with the laws failure to which consequences follow. The laws prohibit terminating employees who have reported illegal activities within the organization also well known as whistleblowing. Employees should not be terminated if they sue the organization for failing to pay them in time or rather failing to compensate them in time. Employees who sue the organizations in case they were sexually harassed should not be terminated either according to the Florida laws. The employment laws in Florida protect both the employees and employers and urge out that employers should not discriminate employees on the basis of discrimination of any type (Charles, 2001). Employees are required to report in case they have been terminated on invalid reasons to the Florida Commission on Human Rights (Charles, 2001). The employees should have their attorney who will assess their case and ensure they get justice since they should not be dismissed on invalid reasons since they are well protected by the laws.

Employees who have reported their cases to the laws and it has been proved they were not on the wrong should be compensated by the employers or the organizations. Employees are therefore required to contact their attorney immediately they are terminated on the wrongful reasons for immediate actions to be taken (Charles, 2001). For instance in the case of Ellen who started a blog to protest the CEO’s bonus since he had not promoted his employees for two years, the law can protect its employees since they are supposed to be promoted. In this case, the law will argue out that employees need to be promoted and given bonuses since it is the right of employees to get promotions and bonuses in the organizations. The CEO is wrong and thus he cannot fire Ellen since she is complaining on valid reasons and need to get promoted after working hard for two years without getting any kind of reward. The laws protect employees against such employers who fail to reward the efforts of their employees and thus such an employer cannot terminate an employee who has filed such a petition since it is based on valid reasons (Marino & Richeson, 2000).

John who is an employee in a given company posts a rant on his Facebook criticizing the most important customer in the organization. This is wrong according to the employment laws since no employee is allowed to discuss customers in any forum. The company can sue John since his behavior is unacceptable and can lead to loss of the organization in case they lose the most important customer. John as an employee is rude and thus if the employer decides to terminate him, the employment laws cannot defend him since his behavior is unprofessional and cannot be entertained. He is required face the law since he is against the laws that protect both the employees and employers and thus needs to be terminated without any court objecting to this (Charles, 2001). John is on the wrong and this shows that both employees and employers can be on the wrong and thus terminate the employment relationships in case such an occurrence happens. In a third scenario, Bill has been using his company-issued BlackBerry to run his own business on the side. The company discovers and is not happy with Bills behavior since he has been using the resources of the company, not for thye benefit of the company but for his own benefit without getting permit from the organization. Bills behavior is unacceptable since he is using the resources of the employer behind the back of the employer which is wrong. The company can sue Bill since he has been doing something illegal. In case he is sued, the courts will not protect him since he is against the laws that protect him. The employer thus has the right to terminate Bill since he has been carried out illegal businesses within the organization. The reasons leading to his termination are valid since no employer can entertain an employee who does illegal business within the organization (Ford et al, 2000).

For instance in California State, the employment laws argue out that, employees cannot be dismissed on the wrong reasons. In a scenario whereby a certain employee was dismissed who had served the organization for long since the company did not want to give him retirement benefits. The employee sued the company since his employment was terminated at the wrong time without any valid reason since the organization simply did not want to give him retirement benefits. The law defends such employees since they have worked for long in the organizations and thus need to be given the respect they deserve (Ford et al, 2000). They need to get retirement benefits and other rewards for having served the organizations for long and in good faith. The At Will Doctrine cannot support termination of such employment relations since they are unfair to employees who have served organizations for long and have been terminated from the organizations in the most unfair manner. The laws exist so that they can serve and protect employees who suffer under the hands of unfair employers. Employers should not discriminate employee and equally employees should not do illegal businesses within the organization since they should respect their employers.

References

Ford, K. E., Notestine, K. E., Hill, R. N., & American Bar Association. (2000). Fundamentals of employment law. Chicago, Ill: Tort and Insurance Practice, American Bar Association.

Marino, M. F., & Richeson, J. D. (2000). Employment in Florida: A guide to employment laws,    regulations, and practices. Charlottesville, VA: LEXIS Pub.

Charles J. Muhl, “The Employment-At-Will Doctrine:  Three Major Exceptions,” Monthly Labor             Review (January 2001):  3-11.