Hrm 564: Employee at Will

Employee-at-Will

Tina Crowe

HRM 564

October 5, 2015

Denise Brown

Employee-at-Will

At-will employment is used within the United States Work Force Labor Laws and  is used for contractual relationships. Contractual Relationships are when an employee can be dismissed by an employer for any reason and without warning. In this paper, the author will tell how the organization that they work for applies employment-at-will, the extent that the exceptions limit the organization, and how the managers in the organization use their knowledge of Employment-at-will.  The author will also discuss independent contractors within their organization and what the independent contractors and employees have in common and how they differ in the organization.

Hall County is a Government entity and employees are constantly coming and going. Sometimes they are leaving to just transfer to another department and at other times they are leaving the entity completely. Employment-at-will is an employment relationship between an employer and employee, in this relationship there is no contractual obligation to remain in the relationship. At any time, either party may terminate the relationship, for any reason, as long as the reason is not prohibited by law. (D. Bennett-Alexander, P. Hartman) 2007. Hall County takes extra measures to ensure that they follow the guide lines when it comes to their employees. Hall County has  an open door policy when it comes to the employees. Employment-at-will can benefit the company as well as benefit the employees. It can do this by using the knowledge and expertise of the Human Resource Department.

The Human Resource department at Hall County plays a significant role in the day to day activities of the organization. This is because they help make the rules of the organization along-side of the County Administrator and Assistant County Administrator. Because the HR department has extensive knowledge of Employment-at-Will, they are able to stop any unwanted issues before they arise. In Hall County, the Human Resource Department is involved in almost every aspect of the organization. This is from basic hiring of employees to firing of them. They are involved with rewriting the employee hand book as needed, and letting the employees know of any and all important changes occurring in the organization. According to the Coggburn, Battaglio, Bowman, Condrey, and Goodman, “Their substantive knowledge of HR policy suggests that they are far more likely to have advanced knowledge of the failures and successes of Employment-at-will systems. This insight is very valuable in instances of adverse personnel actions. If HR professionals have bought into EAW, this may portend further erosion to traditional merit systems. Given their influence, having an understanding of HR professionals’ attitudes toward EAW should provide clues about substantive issues facing managers contemplating at will dismissals.” (State Government Human Resource Professionals' Commitment to Employment at Will, 2009)

At Hall County, the handbook it states that employees are hired as at-will employees. It states that the employee can be terminated at any time and for any reason unless there is a legal reason.   By the same token, an employee is free to leave at any time and for any reason without there being in repercussions. There is no specific time frame for the at-will employment relationship. Even though an employer can terminated an employee for no reason, they are not permitted to terminate on the basis of race, gender, religion, national origin, age or disability which is covered under Title VII. If it can be proven that the reason for termination falls with an exception, the employee can file a claim for wrongful termination. At that point, the employee can receive damages or can be reinstated.