Abolish Employment At-Will

Target:
President Barack Obama
Sponsored by: 

The American worker has faced, and continues to face an enormous crisis.  We can save Corporate America, and yet shun the American worker?  We can assure that Corporations prosper in the face of poor performance and in the name of economic necessity, while the American worker can be fired without a just cause or stated reason?

The Employment At-Will Doctrine dictates that an employee may be fired for good reasons, unethical reasons, or no stated reason at all.  And when an employer does not give an employee a reason for termination, what are they trying to hide? 

Approximately 60 million American workers are subject to these conditions in the workplace.  It is estimated that Two-Million Americans are fired from their jobs every year.  And of those Two-Million workers, many workers are unjustly terminated.  Due to no fault of their own, Americans can lose their home, their automobile, their health insurance, their good credit rating, their reputation, and their self-esteem.

We need legislation for just cause practices in the workplace where:  1) Employees are made aware of alleged problems in their performance; 2) Employees are able to voice themselves and describe any discrepancies; 3) A progressive discipline approach will be adopted; 4) A valid reason for termination must be given to an employee; and 5) Everyone is eligible for protection under the law -- not just a select few.

ATTENTION SIGNERS! -- If you would like to contact the author of the petition for any reason (encouraged), please click the Sponsor's name at the top of the petition.  Also, PLEASE REALIZE that this effort will NOT succeed without YOUR extended efforts.  PLEASE forward this petition to others.  Thank you for your participation, courage, and vision.  And for more background on this important issue, please visit : http://readersupportednews.org/pm-section/30-labor/338-implications-of-an-unethical-doctrine

The American worker has faced, and continues to face an enormous crisis.  We can save Corporate America, and yet shun the American worker?  We can assure that Corporations prosper in the face of poor performance and in the name of economic necessity, while the American worker can be fired without a just cause or stated reason?

The Employment At-Will Doctrine dictates that an employee may be fired for good reasons, unethical reasons, or no stated reason at all.  And when an employer does not give an employee a reason for termination, what are they trying to hide? 

Approximately 60 million American workers are subject to these conditions in the workplace.  It is estimated that Two-Million Americans are fired from their jobs every year.  And of those Two-Million workers, many workers are unjustly terminated.  Due to no fault of their own, Americans can lose their home, their automobile, their health insurance, their good credit rating, their reputation, and their self-esteem.

We need legislation for just cause practices in the workplace where:  1) Employees are made aware of alleged problems in their performance; 2) Employees are able to voice themselves and describe any discrepancies; 3) A progressive discipline approach will be adopted; 4) A valid reason for termination must be given to an employee; and 5) Everyone is eligible for protection under the law -- not just a select few.

ATTENTION SIGNERS! -- If you would like to contact the author of the petition for any reason (encouraged), please click the Sponsor's name at the top of the petition.  Also, PLEASE REALIZE that this effort will NOT succeed without YOUR extended efforts.  PLEASE forward this petition to others.  Thank you for your participation, courage, and vision.  And for more background on this important issue, please visit : http://readersupportednews.org/pm-section/30-labor/338-implications-of-an-unethical-doctrine

We the Undersigned request the eradication of the Employment At-Will Doctrine, which negatively impacts many American workers.


The Employment At-Will Doctrine dictates that an employee may be fired for good reasons, unethical reasons, or no stated reason at all. And when there is no stated reason given for a termination, what is an employer trying to hide? 


There are 60 million American workers subject to Employment At-Will.  It is estimated that Two-Million American workers are fired every year.  And of those Two-Million workers, it is estimated that 200,000 are fired for unjust reasons.  Due to no fault of their own, Americans can lose their home, their automobile, their health insurance, their good credit rating, their reputation, and their self-esteem.  It is extremely important to remember that we are talking about real lives here and not simply numbers.  


The above-mentioned implications represent another financial crisis that has plagued American citizens for years.  Furthermore, Americans are encouraged to pursue higher education and the costs associated with this pursuit are astronomical.  If Americans can be fired beyond the confines of their job performance, their professionalism, their education, their experience, and their ethics, how can a person be expected to pay back their student loans if they accumulate them?


The American worker has faced and continues to face an enormous crisis.  We can save corporate America, but we can shun the American worker?  We can assure that Corporations prosper economically and bail them out in the name of global necessity, while American workers can be fired without a just cause?


We need legislation for just cause practices in the workplace where:  1) Employees are made aware of alleged problems in their performance; 2) Employees are able to voice themselves and describe any discrepancies; 3) A progressive discipline approach will be adopted; 4) A valid reason for termination must be given to an employee; and 5) Everyone is eligible for protection under the law -- not just a select few.

           

In the sentiments of Martin Luther King, Jr., "This is no time ... to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism."  Do not let hope and change for America end here.


We thank you for your time, attention, and courage in this matter.


For more background on this important issue, please visit:

http://readersupportednews.org/pm-section/30-labor/338-implications-of-an-unethical-doctrine

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We signed the "Abolish Employment At-Will" petition!
# 444:
1:32 pm PST, Feb 9, Art Felsinger, Arizona
# 442:
11:27 am PST, Feb 9, Charles Carter, Arkansas
# 439:
9:49 am PST, Feb 9, Name not displayed, Indiana
I have been overworked, in fact required to do twcie as much as the person hired after me. Yet aI was terminated when I achieved a 99% success rate (rather than 100%). Go figure!
# 438:
6:31 pm PST, Feb 8, Name not displayed, New York
# 437:
4:00 pm PST, Feb 8, M Ferrara, Maryland
I believe I should have the right to know why I am fired, Too many managers/supervisors, upper management keep their friends 'safe', but the ones who actually do the work, in spite of the ridiculous quotas they want you to keep up all day long, all week long, all month long, regardless if the programs you need to use work or not, piling more and more procedures, workloads etc on you without changing the quota to compensate is just horrible. they keep the work force low, not enough to do the work load and pile on the exsisting people then tell those people they are failing. they set you up to fail so they have an excuse to cut back more.
# 436:
12:36 pm PST, Feb 8, Frank Gerry, Florida
# 435:
9:27 am PST, Feb 8, Michael Owens, Virginia
# 434:
6:07 am PST, Feb 8, Janet Boone, South Carolina
this law leaves qualified workers open to termination for no good cause and not only allows, but encourages employers to get rid of the good workers for those less qualified, those who they can pay less.
# 433:
6:26 pm PST, Feb 7, Amanda Rowten, New Mexico
My dad was fired from his job and he didn't even get a reason why.That's why he's working in Afghanistan.
# 432:
4:38 pm PST, Feb 7, Alexis Damon, California
# 431:
3:39 pm PST, Feb 7, Weavre Cooper, Pennsylvania
I know of at least one case in which an employee was fired for complying with a National Security Letter. When the boss found out about an "unauthorized" disclosure, the employee was fired, but federal law had prevented the employee from telling anyone not absolutely required to facilitate compliance when the Letter was received. Worse, the employee couldn't seek any recourse, because the employee couldn't disclose the incident to anyone else. And, the employer didn't have to cite any reason for the firing, because Pennsylvania is an at-will state. So, in at least one instance, an employee was fired solely and explicitly for complying with federal law, with no recourse. I know of another case where a female employee believes she was fired for being female in a mostly male workplace, but can't prove anything when her former employer didn't have to give any reason at all for firing her. At-will employment facilitates illegal discrimination and illegal firing, by providing cover to unethical employers. Employees deserve better.
# 430:
11:49 am PST, Feb 7, April Mosen, New Jersey
# 429:
11:15 am PST, Feb 7, Gregory Paul, California
This needs to be changed. Alot of people want and need to know why they are being fired. California is bad of this. Even though the employee may also terminate employment for the same reasons.
# 428:
10:27 am PST, Feb 7, Joan Roberts, New York
I know that this is the policy adopted by the public schools- imagine that. That even in the public schools the employees have no rights. I am definitely against the At Will doctrine. Joan Roberts
# 427:
9:47 am PST, Feb 7, Jean Mclaren, Michigan
# 426:
9:44 am PST, Feb 7, Mary Devlin, Washington
# 425:
9:38 am PST, Feb 7, Shirley Hudleson, Florida
For all the unemployed I am very happy to sign this petition.
# 424:
9:20 am PST, Feb 7, Edward Ngo, Texas
# 423:
9:16 am PST, Feb 7, Sidney Toups, North Carolina
# 422:
9:12 am PST, Feb 7, Chris McCabe, United Kingdom
Support the people! My thoughts & prayers go out to people here who are hurting badly.
# 421:
9:04 am PST, Feb 7, Kristi Knotts, California
I have a friend who lost her job after 11 years. No reason was required and there was nothing that she could do about it.
# 420:
10:21 am PST, Feb 6, LJ Fullerton, New York
# 419:
12:53 am PST, Jan 31, Erik Griffiths, Oregon
# 418:
6:37 pm PST, Jan 24, Name not displayed, Oregon
# 417:
5:56 pm PST, Jan 24, Name not displayed, Virginia
# 416:
11:14 am PST, Jan 23, Martha Leahy, Massachusetts
# 414:
2:19 pm PST, Jan 19, Rob Hines, Kansas
I agree 1000%. I was fired for leaving work 2 hours early because of a ice storm that we were getting. The mayor of our city was telling all employers to start sending employees home before the roads were unpassable, but the owner was afraid he might miss a dollar. So he would rather risk his employees lives.
# 413:
6:09 am PST, Jan 18, Donna Champlin, South Carolina
# 412:
8:32 pm PST, Jan 17, Martin Tharp, Nevada
I personally have never been fired but have been forced out of work by new Board Members of a HOA by having salary cut by 50% and benefits eliminated after 4 years of exemplary service and praise because one board member wanted a family member to have the Property Managers job.
# 411:
7:49 pm PST, Jan 17, Michael Brown, Tennessee
spure of the moment demanding to work on weekends with threat of being fired if didnt show up!
# 410:
6:55 pm PST, Jan 17, William Sommer, North Carolina
# 408:
12:00 pm PST, Jan 17, Cynthia Boulais, Florida
# 407:
5:43 am PST, Jan 17, Name not displayed, Connecticut
Reading people's stories on here truly makes me sad. I too live in fear everyday of loosing my job
# 405:
11:50 pm PST, Jan 16, Name not displayed, California
I was recently fired from my job and as a lot people I did not deserve it. I went to work everyday on time and did my job plus more. I finished my work quickly and would help my coworkers. Then all of a sudden I see resumes coming in for my position and went online to check the supposed job posting was a mistake, it was not. So I gave them a few days to say something to me and they were acting as if nothing was going, so I called a meeting with my manager, and my two bosses by email requesting they reply with a date. They 2 of them just called me in (I specifically wanted them to schedule it by email and for all 3 of them to be there and couldn't even respect that) anyways they pretended not to know why I wanted to meet with them so I told them what I learned and they claimed they were going to talk about it with me later, my job was not in jeopardy they were just always looking to expand and I will be doing something else, we would talk about in about a week during my review, but everything was fine and dont worry, we wouldn't start hiring for your position while you're still here its just unethical. A week and half later they fired me, a day before I was supposedly going to get my review. They're claim: " After several warnings and no improvement we decided you are not fit for the job, I like you but we need someone who will do what we ask" I never received any kind of warning and they said this not even 2 weeks after they claimed that everything was fine! Now I have been unemployed for more than a month, I have no idea how I'm going to make rent since I am only getting about $480.00 on unemployment. Sometimes I dont even know if I'm going to be able to eat.
# 404:
9:35 pm PST, Jan 16, Suzanne Boltz, North Carolina
# 403:
9:22 pm PST, Jan 16, Name not displayed, North Carolina
I'm a single mother with 3 children to support. I have worked all my life since the age of 14. I have always stayed late, worked on my day off, and worked overtime whenever asked. I even worked when I was sick. Then last summer I needed some serious tests run. The day after my heart and lungs were, I was terminated. I was told they didn't have to give me a reason. A co-worker called me at home to let me know she heard my employer saying I was an insurance risk. I was diagnosed with severe lymphedema. It's serious, incurable, and life threatening... but now I have no job and no insurance. No one will hire me due to physical limitations. My doctor put me on disability status, but I'm still waiting for the government to approve it. Without the disability, I have no way to pay for treatments, without medical visits/treatments, I can't prove my need for disability. It's just my doctor's word. I'm caught in a vicious circle. I don't know what's going to happen to me and my children. I'm terrified and the stress is going to literally kill me.
# 402:
7:16 pm PST, Jan 16, Diana Kuhlman, Virginia
I am glad to see this subject being brought up as I believe its an important topic. Something does need to be done about this. How are people suppose to pay their bills or buy food. Its outrageous how the american worker is treated and it we do need a bill for this.
# 401:
5:59 pm PST, Jan 16, Name not displayed, Pennsylvania
This needs to be abolished in ALL states. For example, some can just terminate you or not hire you at all just based on how you look. Hard to prove, but it's true. I've also witnessed some managing to get around the Americans with Disabilities Act by using some lame excuse ("we have to cut back on workers") to let go a disabled person rather than make the necessary accommodations for them, yet with their "hard financial situation" managed to keep a less competent worker. Go figure.
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