The Chartwell Chronicles: Employment Law
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The Puerto Rico Supreme Court recently issued a decision reaffirming the importance of just cause for employment terminations in Puerto Rico. Méndez Ruiz v. Techno Plastics Industries, Inc., No. 2025 TSPR 68 (June 26, 2025)....more
The Tennessee Supreme Court has recently held that there is no legal claim for wrongful discharge where an employer terminates an employee because the employee exercised a right set forth in the state Constitution. The...more
North Carolina is an at-will employment state, but recognizes a limited exception from that rule for terminations that violate the state’s public policy. Courts have wrestled for years over the meaning of public policy and...more
In a case of first impression in Colorado, the Colorado Court of Appeals adopts a test for evaluating a claim of actual discharge under Colorado law. In this Colorado employment law case, Plaintiff ex-employee, Ms. Potts,...more
The BakerHostetler Labor and Employment Practice Group keeps a close watch on new and upcoming employment and labor laws that could have a significant impact on our New York-based clients. This alert highlights just some of...more
On March 6, 2023, the New York State Senate introduced Senate Bill S05459, the Safeguarding Employees and Accountability for Termination (“SEAT”) Act, which, if enacted, will eliminate at-will employment in the State of New...more
On Tuesday, March 21, 2023, the Connecticut Supreme Court announced a significant new decision concerning lawsuits by employees alleging “wrongful discharge in violation of public policy.” Most employers in Connecticut are...more
On July 15, 2022, the Michigan Supreme Court clarified and, arguably, expanded the public-policy exception to the well-established at-will employment presumption in Michigan. Although the case may conclude differently after...more
Under some circumstances, Oklahoma law recognizes that terminated employees may pursue a public policy wrongful discharge claim against a former employer. These claims allow a narrow exception to the employment at-will status...more
Arizona is an at-will employment state. This means employers may terminate employees for any reason or no reason at all so long as the reason is not an illegal one. Several state and federal laws prohibit employers from...more
A recent decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (the “SJC”) significantly expanded the Massachusetts common-law public policy exception to termination of at-will employees. This decision, Meehan v. Med. Info....more
On December 17, 2021, Meehan v. Medical Information Technology, Inc., the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts (“SJC”) held that an employee’s filing a rebuttal to information placed in their personnel file that could...more
On December 17, 2021, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruled that an employee discharged for submitting a written rebuttal to his employer in response to the placement of negative information in his personnel...more
On December 17, 2021, the highest state court in Massachusetts held that an employer may not terminate an employee solely for exercising his right to file a rebuttal to be included in his personnel file....more
Ernest “Big Daddy” Bux’s daughter Kathy “Kitten” was working for Approval Literary Agency in Blessing, Texas – that is until last month. Kitten, an associate literary agent with Approval Literary was sacked after her boss...more
I was recently asked to speak to a Human Resources Management class at a local university about how American employment law is different from employment laws in other countries. While there are many things that distinguish...more
The Massachusetts Appeals Court, in a slip op opinion issued on January 20, 2021, decided that at-will employees can be terminated for submitting rebuttal letters pursuant to G.L.c. 149, §52C (“Section 52C”), and cannot avail...more
The New York City Council has proposed additional legislation that would have a major impact on businesses falling within the broad definition of “fast food establishments” and has scheduled a hearing on the bills for...more
A law firm can terminate an at-will lawyer who refuses to sign an agreement prohibiting them from soliciting the firm’s customers or clients following cessation of employment, according to the Supreme Court of Kentucky. In...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Does Pennsylvania’s public policy preclude a nuclear power plant from terminating an employee for being drunk on the job? “No,” the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania...more
Reaffirming Indiana’s “strong” presumption of at-will employment, the Indiana Court of Appeals has declined to expand the public policy exception to the at-will employment doctrine to include an employee’s mistaken belief...more
Arizona is an “at-will” employment state. This means an employer can terminate you for any reason or no reason, except an unlawful reason. If you are terminated for an unlawful reason, then you may have a claim for wrongful...more
At-will employment is the normal employer-employee relationship in South Carolina. In 2004, the state legislature passed a law stating that handbooks that took certain reasonable steps did not create a contractual exception...more
One of the many challenges for employers is that, occasionally, employees must be terminated. Unfortunately, sometimes those former employees claim to have been terminated illegally, giving rise to the risk of legal and...more
In Bowman v. State Bank of Keysville, the Virginia Supreme Court first recognized an exception to the employment at-will doctrine based upon an employer’s violation of public policy in the discharge of an employee. In...more