At-will employment defaults give most US workers little job security

Evidence

What happens, for example, when an employment contract is silent on whether the employer needs a good reason to fire a worker; or may fire him for any reason at all (“at will”)? The presumption in every state except Montana is that an employment con­ tract is “at will,” meaning an employer may fire his worker for a good reason, bad reason, or no reason at all. The contract, of course, can override this default rule; but, unless a union insists on this, it doesn’t happen, and most employees in the United States, conse­ quently, have little or no job security. Default rules help dictate the direction of people’s behavior, sometimes through sheer inertia, but also because they may serve as an implicit endorsement of some rule and help set expectations. — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law, 1345

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the ‘at will’ employment default and its pervasive consequences.
• XREF: connects to: U.S. officials viewed unemployment as a deliberate worker-discipline tool. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 18; Depoliticized labor markets discipline workers through the threat of unemployment and lower wages — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 796

Broader Connections

• Depoliticized labor markets discipline workers through the threat of unemployment and lower wages #expands (0.80) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 796
• U.S. officials viewed unemployment as a deliberate worker-discipline tool. #expands (0.75) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 18