Labor and Employment Law Commons^™

Drafting Chapter 2 Of The Ali's Employment Law Restatement In The Shadow Of Contract Law: An Assessment Of The Challenges And Results, Robert A. Hillman

Cornell Law Faculty Working Papers

The American Law Institute (ALI) has just completed the Restatement of the Law Third, Employment Law. Chapter 2 is entitled "Employment Contracts: Termination." As the name suggests, the Chapter focuses on the law's difficult challenge of applying contract law to distinguish lawful terminations of employees from wrongful ones. The question is especially problematic because, on the one hand, employment law's long-existing default rule allows employers to terminate employees "at will" and without cause. Advocates of the at-will doctrine present several policies to support it, including freedom of contract and efficiency. On the other hand, employers seek to attract talented employees …