“I live in a right-to-work state, so my employer can shitcan me for any reason”.
-Linus K. Lemming
Sorry friends, that’s at-will employment, *and you still can’t be terminated for any reasons that are protected by law, but we’re not here to discuss that. Right-to-work laws mean one thing: that non-union employees cannot be required to contribute to the cost of union representation.
The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 prohibits “closed shops”, where union membership is a condition of employment; however, union represented positions can still be required to contribute to the cost of that representation. Right-to-work laws prohibit that requirement, allowing employees in union represented positions who choose not to join the union to also choose whether or not they contribute to the union’s costs, i.e., if they pay dues or not.
I see this mistake frequently and thought folks might want to know the correct information so they don’t unintentionally perpetuate it.
Edit: updated to include link to info about at-will employment.
I live in an at will employment state and have been a manager for quite some time. I’ve never seen an employee actually terminated for their protected status race, religion, etc. It’s always been because they had poor performance and/or attendance issues and didn’t want to get better. If you aren’t a solid average then it’s develop up or out. This isn’t my POV, this is the reality of the performance conversations I’ve been involved with. Personal accountability is a major problem these days. If you have none then you won’t have a job for long. The good news is that if you’re solid in those areas then you will be valuable to your employer. This is why so many military applicants get picked up. They have a basis for attendance and completing the mission.
Having said that, I’m sure you’re correct and discrimination does happen because their employer lied. I just think that it doesn’t happen quite as often as believed. Many poor performers I’ve known have outright lied about why they were actually terminated.
I don’t think individual anecdotes are that useful here. For example, a dude I worked with reported his old boss was extremely racist and made all sorts of hiring decisions based on race and stereotypes. Is that common? You’d have to find or do some studies to find out.
That’s not even touching implicit bias and friends. Perhaps when the white guy is late it’s traffic, but when the black guy is late it’s because he’s irresponsible. That kind of thinking happens all the time, to all of us.
Pick one
I upvoted your comment for being insightful, not trying to dismiss what you’re saying. I get where you’re coming from, and I agree that what you’re saying is likely true for most businesses, but there are other people who’s reality of conversations they have been involved with resulted in being fired unfairly.