Learn whether your employer must have a good reason for firing you.

Job applicants and new employees are often perplexed to read — in a job application, employment contract, or employee handbook — that they will be employed “at will.” They are even more troubled when they find out exactly what this language means: An at-will employee can be fired at any time, for any reason (except for a few illegal reasons, spelled out below). If the employer decides to let you go, that’s the end of your job — and you have very limited legal rights to fight your termination.

If you are employed at will, your employer does not need good cause to fire you. In every state but Montana (which protects employees who have completed an initial “probationary period” from being fired without cause), employers are free to adopt at-will employment policies, and many of them have. In fact, unless your employer gives some clear indication that it will only fire employees for good cause, the law presumes that you are employed at will.

During the next couple of weeks, we will publish a series of posts that will help you figure out whether you’re employed at will, what rights you have as an at-will employee, and what you should do if your prospective or current employer asks you to sign an at-will agreement.

Tags: at will, empleos, employment law, ley de empleos, mylatinolawyer.com