At Will Employment Doctrine Essay
The Ethics Of The At-Will Employment Doctrine
There are two types of employment practices in the United States, at-will and just cause. An at-will employee can be terminated at any time, for any reason, within the scope of law. Just cause employees can only be dismissed in good faith and with good reason.
At-will employment is standard in many corporations across the United States. Although it is legal, the practice raises some ethical concerns. The at-will doctrine provides employees little to no security, violates the principal of fairness and infringes upon certain basic rights. In this paper I will expand upon the ethical dilemmas of the at-will employment, discuss the doctrine limitations and present my argument against the doctrine, …show more content…
Bowman & West (2007) contend, “favoritism, cronyism, intimidation, corruption, and rampant dismissals were characteristic of that era. Rather than emphasizing good government and policy, the system encouraged mediocre governance; its highest priority was to reward its friends, to grant favors for favors given (p.120). Just cause employment established a merit-based system where employees were shielded from politics and able to protect our democracy without the fear of losing employment (Bowman & West, …show more content…
An employee who refuses to participate in an illegal activity can be dismissed with no legal recourse. The expectation is that the employee is loyal to the business and its financial viability, regardless of his or her moral standards. The inequality between the moral behaviors of employees and employers is immoral and unfair. According to Moskowitz, 1988, “enlightened public policy should foster ethical activity by such employee-professionals and must, therefore, refuse to tolerate discharges motivated by employee resistance to orders of superiors that are at variance” (p.
There are two types of employment practices in the United States, at-will and just cause. An at-will employee can be terminated at any time, for any reason, within the scope of law. Just cause employees can only be dismissed in good faith and with good reason.
At-will employment is standard in many corporations across the United States. Although it is legal, the practice raises some ethical concerns. The at-will doctrine provides employees little to no security, violates the principal of fairness and infringes upon certain basic rights. In this paper I will expand upon the ethical dilemmas of the at-will employment, discuss the doctrine limitations and present my argument against the doctrine, …show more content…
Bowman & West (2007) contend, “favoritism, cronyism, intimidation, corruption, and rampant dismissals were characteristic of that era. Rather than emphasizing good government and policy, the system encouraged mediocre governance; its highest priority was to reward its friends, to grant favors for favors given (p.120). Just cause employment established a merit-based system where employees were shielded from politics and able to protect our democracy without the fear of losing employment (Bowman & West, …show more content…
An employee who refuses to participate in an illegal activity can be dismissed with no legal recourse. The expectation is that the employee is loyal to the business and its financial viability, regardless of his or her moral standards. The inequality between the moral behaviors of employees and employers is immoral and unfair. According to Moskowitz, 1988, “enlightened public policy should foster ethical activity by such employee-professionals and must, therefore, refuse to tolerate discharges motivated by employee resistance to orders of superiors that are at variance” (p.