Quote:
Originally Posted by ernie
In practical terms "at will" does not typically mean you can fire a person for any reason. Companies will go out of their way to document why you are terminating someone even if it is an "at will" company on paper. They will document poor performance etc . It avoids lawsuits which are costlier than some paperwork build up because anything that implies they don't actually follow at will are often easy to find. A simple statement or e-mail from a manager that says "keep doing this good job and we'll always find a place for you", this or a variation of it happens all the time in every company, gives the employee a case against the company. That statement says they don't follow at will. Given many managers who make hiring decisions are not well versed in what you can and cannot say it does indeed happen all the time. "At will" provides the employer with some protection but the better protection is documenting why the dismissal is taking place and why it is necessary. Even in cases of a massive round of layoffs...even more so given a company has to be very careful they are doing it in a fair and non-discriminatory fashion.
I'm of course ignores discriminatory practices which a person can not lose a job over (of course).
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None of this is really very accurate. For example, absent a "just cause" clause, a person can indeed be dismissed from employment even if it amounts to discrimination. As far as I know, no provincial Human Rights Code grants the authority to return a successful applicant to their former position. The only remedy available is an award of damages.