Introduction to “An Empirical Assessment of the Contract Based Exception to the Employment-At-Will Rule”

Excerpt

The employment-at-will doctrine allows employers to terminate an employee for any reason without providing the employee with a warning. An example of a legal case involving the employment-at-will doctrine is Comerford v. International Harvester. In this 1938 Alabama Supreme Court case, the court dismissed the plaintiff’s complaint in which he alleged that he was terminated by a supervisor who sought revenge because the supervisor was unsuccessful in seducing the plaintiff’s wife. While the employment-at-will doctrine is still in effect in the 21st century’s second decade, it has been limited by employment legislation and court rulings which protect employees, for example, from being discharged for refusing to perform illegal acts for employers as well as preventing employers from terminating employees for bad faith reasons or for those motivated by malice. …