If Only Employees Enjoyed The Same Rights As Criminals

Imagine being accused of a crime you did not commit, a crime so serious that the penalty was capital punishment. Naturally, with your life at stake, you would want the best attorney possible, someone who would stand with you and fight for justice. Among other things, your attorney would tell you that our criminal justice system required the prosecutor to prove you had committed the crime.

Now, imagine a system where no one had to prove you were guilty and where no proof you could offer could save you. Millions of Americans enter that system just by being an employee. In the United States, employers can legally fire employees without cause, and no amount of evidence can save that employee's job. This is "employment at will," a system created by judges in the 19th century, a system that lets employees be fired for a good reason, a bad reason or no reason.

Even though this system has been in place for over a century, many American employees do not understand how fragile their hold on their jobs is. Court decisions discuss at-will employment as being a contract that both employer and employee have agreed to. However, nothing could be farther from the truth.

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