page_title: At-will employment
section_title: "Implied-in-law" contracts
hierarchical_section_title: At-will employment / By state / "Implied-in-law" contracts
context_page_description: At-will employment is a term used in U.S. labor law for contractual relationships in which an employee can be dismissed by an employer for any reason, and without warning, as long as the reason is not illegal. When an employee is acknowledged as being hired "at will," courts deny the employee any claim for loss resulting from the dismissal. The rule is justified by its proponents on the basis that an employee may be similarly entitled to leave his or her job without reason or warning. The practice is seen as unjust by those who view the employment relationship as characterized by inequality of bargaining power.
  At-will employment gradually became the default rule under the common law of the employment contract in most U.S. states during the late 19th century, and was endorsed by the U.S. Supreme Court during the Lochner era, when members of the U.S. judiciary consciously sought to prevent government regulation of labor markets. Over the 20th century, many states modified the rule by adding an increasing number of exceptions, or by changing the default expectations in the employment contract altogether.
context_section_description: Eleven US states have recognized a breach of an implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing as an exception to at-will employment. The states are:
  Alabama
  Alaska
  Arizona
  California
  Delaware
  Idaho
  Massachusetts
  Montana
  Nevada
  Utah
  Wyoming
  Court interpretations of this have varied from requiring "just cause" to denial of terminations made for malicious reasons, such as terminating a long-tenured employee solely to avoid the obligation of paying the employee's accrued retirement benefits.  Other court rulings have denied the exception, holding that it is too burdensome upon the court for it to have to determine an employer's true motivation for terminating an employee.
caption: U.S. states (pink) with a covenant-of-good-faith-and-fair-dealing exception