LAW 18B Chapter Ch. 34 Employment, Immigration, & Labor Law:

• School: Long Beach City College
• Department: Business, Law
• Course: LAW 18B
• Professor: Professor Bernal

Document Summary

Employment at will: either party may terminate the employment relationship at any time and for any reason, unless doing so violates an employee"s statutory or contractual rights. Some courts have held that an implied employment contract exists between the employer. If the employee is fired outside the terms of the implied contract, he/she may succeed in action for breach of contract even though no written employment contract exists. Discharge of an employee may give rise to an action for wrongful discharge under tort theories. Abusive discharge procedures may result in a lawsuit for intentional infliction of emotional distress or defamation. The most common exception to the employment-at-will doctrine is made on the basis that the employer"s reason for firing the employee violates a fundamental public policy of the jurisdiction. The courts require that the public policy involved be expressed clearly in statutory law governing the jurisdiction.