Re: At-Will Employment

[Guest guest]

JoVina wrote:

<<Hey folks, I'm curious to know how many of you work for an " At-Will "

agency. For those of you who may not know of it, it's where you are

employed at the will of the sheriff or whatever agency and you can be fired

for any reason or no reason. Texas is an at-will employment state and I've

had a couple of friends who have recently lost their jobs. The reasons

given were BS

and they were told that since they were at-will employees there was nothing

they could do. They're going to consult with an attorney but I've been

trying to do a little research on my own. Has anyone had any experience

with this? Do you know anyone or have you ever been wrongfully

discharged?>>

Well, JoVina, here's my sad tale:

Missouri is also an " employment-at-will " state. And it is not necessary for

an employer to have a " reason " for terminating an employee, nor is an

employee compelled to indicate a " reason " for resigning. However, this does

not prevent the filing of a wrongful discharge suit by a discharged employee

who believes his/her dismissal was the result of discrimination.

I do have a LITTLE firsthand knowledge. (Okay, I sort of have to give up my

age to tell this story, so I hope you appreciate my contribution! <grin>)

Some years ago, I was dismissed from a company where I had been employed for

8 years. It was during a recession and the reason I was given was that my

position was eliminated due to downsizing. I turned 40 on a Tuesday and on

Thursday I was let go. On Friday morning, I went to apply for unemployment

compensation (for the first time in my life)and during the interview there,

the counselor asked me if I had ever had a bad performance evaluation from

the employer. That was a " no. " Then she asked me a series of questions

surrounding my rate of pay and how often I had received raises, the size of

my last raise and some questions about my dismissal, which I thought were

peculiar questions, but having never gone through the process before, I

didn't know what was " normal. "

A couple of weeks later, when I went in for my next " check in, " the same

counselor told me she needed to see me. She told me that she had done some

checking with the former employer and had determined that I was eligible for

the highest level of benefits, but that, on a personal note, she felt she

should advise me that I had a very strong case for filing a wrongful

discharge suit and a complaint based on age discrimination. Seems that, in

her checking, she learned that my " eliminated position " was now being filled

by a little gal just out of high school (who, it later turned out, just

happened to be related to one of the owners -- what a coincidence!)

At any rate, I never pursued the action, primarily because it didn't take me

that long to get hooked up with another job, making just as much money as I

had before. I just moved on with my life and let it go.

Moral of the story: if your folks think that they may have a case for

wrongful discharge, I think it would be smart for them to talk to an

attorney. I don't know about Texas, but here in Missouri, generally in cases

like this, the lawyers don't charge a fee for the initial visit to discover

whether or not they can help you. (They take their cut out of your

settlement.)

Good luck. If you have any questions about my particular situation, you can

feel free to contact me off-list and I'll do whatever I can to help you out.

Janet Bettag

(The WELL " over 40 " woman from LSL MO)

Department email: lspolice@...

Personal email: MsJBettag@...