by Randall Bullard

Created on: September 10, 2009   Last Updated: September 11, 2009

At-Will Work and the Ethical Issues of Termination

In many states in the union of the United States, the states have regulations that make them right-to-work and at-will work states. These distinctions have provided employees and employers with a certain degree of protection and hindrance in the employee/employer relationship. Understanding the basis of these classifications will allow for a better understanding of how employees are hindered by the at-will work rulings and protected by the right-to-work distinction. Though the purpose is to examine the ethical ramifications of the at-will work status of employees, an understanding of the distinction set forth by the right-to-work ruling will aid in understanding how protections for employees also contribute to the employees' disadvantages brought about by at-will work rulings.

Right-to-Work

The protections of the right-to-work act of many states are intended to protect employees from forced unionization in the workplace. The right-to-work law, as stated by Butler, means that an individual cannot be required to join a Union as a condition of their employment (2009). This is a protection that allows employees to decide freely their desire to join a Union within the workplace or to remain a non-unionized worker. Although this is a vital enactment of a law meant to protect employees from pressures to join a Union as a condition of employment and earning a living, the inaction of the at-will work legislation in these states erode the employees assurance of threat to their employment for any reason not clearly protected by law, namely discrimination based on age, sex, gender, nationality, or religious beliefs. To better understand the threat to an employee's security posed by at-will work regulations, an in-depth exploration of these policies is needed to illustrate the potential for unethical actions on the part of an employer relating to their employees employment.

At-Will Work

While the right-to-work act aided in weakening the ability of organized labor to leverage political power to aid the employee in procuring better wages and benefits. The right-to-work laws also limited the Union's ability to prevent union members from being terminated without cause, or At-Will (Butler, 2009). This at-will distinction in most states became a reason for employers to have no need to guarantee an employee any amount of protection for termination regardless of union status and involvement. As a result employees are disadvantaged

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