What Does Employment At Will Mean?

Most employees are at-will employees. Some examples of employees that are not at-will employees include tenured teachers in Kentucky, employees that work under a union contract, persons that have an individual employment contract and government employees that have a civil service status. There are other examples, of course, and these are only a few.

So most employees are at-will employees. Employment at will does not mean that an employee can be fired at any time for any reason. For instance, it violates both federal and Kentucky law to fire an employee because of his or her race. Race discrimination is only one form of illegal firing; there are others. Employment at will can best be described as follows: an at will employee can be fired at any time for any legal reason. A legal reason can be very unfair even morally outrageous. 

Lexington, Kentucky employment lawyer Robert Abell represents individuals and employees in employment law cases including wrongful termination and discrimination cases; contact him at 859-254-7076.