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A Synthesis And A Proposal For Reform Of The Employment At-Will Doctrine, Robert M. Bastress

West Virginia Law Review

Representing a client who seeks relief for an employment discharge is a lot like playing bingo: you hope the client calls out facts that permit you to maneuver the case into the right squares of forbidden employer motive or conduct in order to win a prize. The traditional doctrine of at-will employment,' which gives an employer the right to fire an employee at any time for any reason or for no reason, has now been qualified in so many ways that only bad luck prevents an unjustly discharged employee from fitting his termination into squares that could provide relief. It …