There are two general categories for most workers. They are either contractual workers who have signed a specific employment agreement, or they are at-will employees.
When an employee is classified as at-will, it means there is no specified end date to that business relationship. The employee is fully within their legal rights to quit at any time. Likewise, their employer can terminate their position at any time.
Employees who have contracts often have more protections, such as stating that they need to be fired for specific reasons or that their employment with the company will last for a set amount of months or years.
Wrongful termination is still possible
Because at-will employees can be let go at any time, employers sometimes believe that it is impossible for this to be a wrongful termination. If they abruptly fire a contractual worker but cannot show cause or violate the terms of the contract, that worker may be able to seek legal recourse. But because an at-will employee does not have a contract, this situation cannot occur.
However, wrongful termination is still possible when it violates the employee’s rights. For instance, discrimination is illegal based on protected classes like age, religion, gender, race and much more. If an employee is fired because they are in one of these protected classes, it can still be a wrongful termination.
Similarly, employees have a right to take certain actions, such as reporting sexual harassment in the workplace. If an employer retaliates by terminating that position, or threatens to fire the worker if they speak up about this misconduct, that can also be a wrongful termination.
It is important to understand that wrongful termination can happen even without a dedicated employment contract in place. Those involved in these types of disputes need to know exactly what legal options they have.