Law Commons^™

The Costs Of Wrongful-Discharge Laws, Stewart J. Schwab, David H. Autor, James J. Donohue Iii

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

We estimate the effects on employment and wages of wrongful discharge protections adopted by U.S. state courts during the last three decades. We find robust evidence that one wrongful-discharge doctrine, the implied-contract exception, reduced state employment rates by 0.8% to 1.7%. The initial impact is largest for female and less-educated workers (those who change jobs frequently), while the longer-term effect is greater for older and more-educated workers (those most likely to litigate). By contrast, we find no robust employment or wage effects of two other widely recognized wrongful-discharge laws: the public-policy and good-faith exceptions.

Wrongful Discharge Law And The Search For Third-Party Effects, Stewart J. Schwab

Cornell Law Faculty Publications