Tagged: At-Will Employment
Employers sometimes include fixed terms of employment in their employment agreement. Sometimes a fixed term is meant to prompt the parties to renegotiate at the end of the term. Sometimes a fixed term is meant to document the point in time where the parties have, in fact, agreed that the employment will end. Sometimes a fixed term is designed to create a point in time where the employer can end the employment without having to pay severance. But sometimes employers include a fixed term in an employment agreement without carefully considering the legal consequences. Under U.S. law, those consequences can be significant. One fundamental difference between employment law in Canada and employment law...
The default rule in most U.S. states is at-will employment. This means that either the employee or the employer may terminate the employment relationship at any time, without notice, for any reason—other than a discriminatory or retaliatory reason. A reason is discriminatory if it is based upon an individual’s status as a member of a protected class, such as race, gender, national origin, or religion. A reason is retaliatory if it relates to an individual’s protected activity, such as whistleblowing or raising concerns regarding the terms and conditions of employment. Parties can opt out of the default at-will rule by entering into an employment agreement that provides the employee with severance unless the...
One of the biggest differences between employment in Canada and employment in the United States is the fact that, with the exception of a few jurisdictions, employment in the United States is “at will.” While in Canada employees who are terminated without cause often must be paid severance, in the absence of a contract requiring severance, a U.S. employer is generally not obligated to pay severance when an employee is fired without cause. This fact has important implications for Canadian companies taking on employees in the United States. While it might make sense for a Canadian employer to include a probationary period in its employment agreement to avoid paying severance after an early...
