The employment status in California is at-will. This means the employer can fire an employee because of any or no reason. However, this status of employment can be changed intentionally by the employer or state government. At-will employment also means if an employer is not liking the personality of his employee or the employee is lazy, he can fire him.
While working for a company, the employee has to acknowledge that he is working in at-will employment conditions. The dispute in at-will employment arises when an employee is fired for illegal reasons like Racial discrimination. If an employee is fired for these reasons then he can file a lawsuit. But the employee has to prove illegal activities.
Note: The employee or the employer who wants to switch the status should do this according to the formal employment contract. This helps in maintaining a record of the documentation. Not doing this through legal documentation can cause legal battles.
Are there any benefits of at-will employment?
Depending on the conditions there are some pros and cons of at-will employment. The major one is that the employees can quit anytime. They don’t have to create long term bonds and wait for the promotions. In the case of bonds, they have to pay compensation for leaving before the period of the bond. The main benefit for the employers is they can fire their employees anytime. For example, employers can hire employees who’re willing to work in less compensation or with fewer benefits. Also, because of covid-19, many businesses have suffered losses. They can fire their employees anytime if they’re having fewer funds.
The only major disadvantage of employees is that they are at high risk. The employers can fire them anytime without stating any reasons. However, the dispute arises when the employees are fired for illegal reasons like discrimination based on gender, colour.
What is the procedure of filing a complaint?
If an employee is discriminated or is fired illegally has to first submit a complaint with EEOC (equal employment opportunity commission). Now the EEOC will conduct an independent investigation. If the employer is not found guilty then the employee can file a lawsuit. More in case of a lawsuit, the employee should consider hiring employment law firms or Shegerian Conniff instead of attorneys. The general documents which should be collected to prove the claim are any emails/documents in the support of the claim and the HR team should be aware of the situation.
