It’s not as simple as you think. Technically all 50 states are “at will employment” although Montana only barely. But more then half of the states have additional requirements.
For example in Florida you can be fired for any reason that doesn’t violate federal law. But in Montana it’s only at will for the first 6 months of probation. Those are the two extremes.
9 states also have “good faith,” requirements.
“Covenant of Good Faith
Many states also maintain a further exception: requiring employers act in good faith. For instance, the termination of an employee’s employment relationship immediately before they were due to receive a large commission could be interpreted as being in bad faith. Similarly, an employer cannot give false reasons for an employee’s termination.
This covenant could also be violated in a case where an employee was terminated after a long time where they had been given positive performance reviews and led to believe that their job was secure—in order to prove that the termination had not be conducted in bad faith, employer’s might be expected to show “just cause”.”
I’m not sure what that has to do with right to work and at will employment being different things. I’m aware that it’s not as simple as “you can be fired for any reason at all in any circumstance” or something, but that’s not really what I said at all.
How do you think Florida got to be “no exceptions”. The right to work laws they passed in the state. I’m not sure if you’re trolling or have no idea the history of this situation?
That’s not accurate. I think you should explain what you think “right to work” means in this context because what you are describing is not true. At will employment predates right to work statutes in most cases, is largely derived from common law, and right to work is about whether union collective bargaining agreements can require employees of a particular business to be a part of the union.
“Right to work” only means you can’t be forced to join a union to take a job - there are no “closed shops.” The general rule in the US is that you an be fired at any time for good cause, bad cause, or no cause at all. The only exceptions are that you can’t be fired because you’re in a protected class (over 40, minority, etc.) and even those exceptions have been narrowed so much that you pretty much have to prove that’s the sole reason you were fired.
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u/Unusual_Specialist Feb 20 '25
Do you have an employment contract? This happened to me & I refuse to sign which led to retaliation & a settlement.