This is the question that I get often. I’ve taught employment law courses at my former law school and I think that there’s a common misperception out there amongst employees. I get calls, hundreds of calls every year. Employees I think believe that the employer has to have some reason or good cause to fire them and that’s not the law in virtually every state and it’s certainly not the law in California. Every employee and employment relationship is an at will relationship and what that means that the employee can be fired at any time for any reason or for no reason at all. And so, when I, for example, taught students in my law school course what I explained to them is that, unfortunately, in California and in other states that the at will doctrine means that if, for example, I don’t like the way that you comb your hair and I tell you that I don’t like people that where hair that way in the workplace that you can be terminated for that.

The other example that I think that is frustrating for employees who work so hard for their companies is if you’re accused, let’s say, you’re working at a cash register and you’re accused of stealing. And the supervisor comes forward sand says you’ve stolen $100.00 from your cash drawer and you say no, I haven’t it. And they say, yes, you have, you’re fired. And so, they escort you out. And then they go to the video tape and the video tape shows that the person at the next cash register, the employee, walked over and took the $100.00 out of the drawer.

The at will employment doctrine would still allow for the employer to make that mistake and terminate you wrongly as long as you haven’t engaged in any other conduct that’s protected by the law. If, for example, an employee is fired for having reported illegal conduct, for having complained having about being discriminated against there’s a separate law or a separate statute that protects the employee in those situations. But in an every day scenario where the employee, let’s say, is a great worker, does their job, is loyal to the company the employer does not have to have any reason to terminate that employee and does not have to have good cause.