Submitted by kennedywr07 on
Jurisdiction:
Area of Law:
Question:
Can an employee be fired if they have verbally said they were leaving later in the year?
Selected Answer:
Submitted by DakotaLegal on
All Comments
Submitted by DakotaLegal on
As the US population and so many jobs have shifted to the South, most workers have learned about what it means to be in a Right to Work state. As a general rule, this will give more power to the employer than the fired employee. The bottom line means that, under the facts you gave here, an employee can probably be fired in anticipation of their quitting in the future. But the facts you give here also suggest the employee may be entitled to certain rights or claims for the way the employer made its decision. Here, state agencies and what they do: http://sc.gov/employment/Pages/EmployeeRights.aspx. These agency-based rights might include one or all of the following:
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- Lost wages.
- Reinstatement of benefits and position.
- Compensation for stress and suffering.
- Attorney’s fees and court costs.
- Punitive damages.
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So let’s look at this question two specific ways. First, from the employer’s point of view (saying they can fire someone), and secondly, from the employee’s perspective (saying they cannot be fired). I’m not trying to favor one side or the other, so much as spelling out how the rules can be argued to benefit one side or the other. You can see there are even different supporters for each side. In the end, a fired employee will have the choice of filing either state complaints (Human Affairs Commission 800-521-0725 www.state.sc.us/schac ) OR a federal complaint (EEOC Regional Branches, Greenville http://www.eeoc.gov/field/index.cfm.)
.
I. The Employer’s Point Of View
To terminate an employee, a South Carolina employer can point to the heart of the employment rules, called “Right to Work,” or RTW. This means an employer generally can fire an employee at any time and for any reason. The purpose of these rules have been debated and adopted by the South Carolina legislature, which means state courts tend to follow the rule and support the employer. Most employers also specify this right in their employee’s handbook or in any employment agreement.
South Carolina law also backs up RTW by limiting the rights of a fired employee to sue in civil court.
The Employee’s Point Of View
Let’s look at the South Carolina rules of what’s called wrongful termination. Even though the employer may have the power to fire, they also have some costs for acting unfairly. The employee has the best chance of winning a wrongful termination claim if they can show the termination was not only based on poor job performance. In your case, the issue was apparently a tactical or administrative decision, not based on your work ability or performance. The more an employee can prove the decision was based on purely irrelevant factors (race, personality or sex), the more likely they will receive some compensation for wrongful termination.
You can look at the case of Glover, and concentrate on how an employer based the termination in large part on being criticized. http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-4th-circuit/1441869.html. The federal National Labor Relations Board has also stepped in to try and limit South Carolina’s RTW rules following a disagreement over Boeing’s move there. http://www.scag.gov/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/alan-wilson-testimony-06.17.11-printedversion.docx.pdf.
The good thing (from the employee’s perspective) is that the process of making a complaint to a state agency will be fairly broad. Finally, there is even an interesting question about some of the unintended consequences of firing an employee this way. An important ex-employee right will be the right to probably file a valid claim for unemployment compensation, under these facts. http://dew.sc.gov/claim-eligible.asp.
As the US population and so many jobs have shifted to the South, most workers have learned about what it means to be in a Right to Work state. As a general rule, this will give more power to the employer than the fired employee. The bottom line means that, under the facts you gave here, an employee can probably be fired in anticipation of their quitting in the future. But the facts you give here also suggest the employee may be entitled to certain rights or claims for the way the employer made its decision. Here, state agencies and what they do: http://sc.gov/employment/Pages/EmployeeRights.aspx. These agency-based rights might include one or all of the following:
So let’s look at this question two specific ways. First, from the employer’s point of view (saying they can fire someone), and secondly, from the employee’s perspective (saying they cannot be fired). I’m not trying to favor one side or the other, so much as spelling out how the rules can be argued to benefit one side or the other. You can see there are even different supporters for each side. In the end, a fired employee will have the choice of filing either state complaints (Human Affairs Commission 800-521-0725 www.state.sc.us/schac ) OR a federal complaint (EEOC Regional Branches, Greenville http://www.eeoc.gov/field/index.cfm.)
.
I. The Employer’s Point Of View
To terminate an employee, a South Carolina employer can point to the heart of the employment rules, called “Right to Work,” or RTW. This means an employer generally can fire an employee at any time and for any reason. The purpose of these rules have been debated and adopted by the South Carolina legislature, which means state courts tend to follow the rule and support the employer. Most employers also specify this right in their employee’s handbook or in any employment agreement.
South Carolina law also backs up RTW by limiting the rights of a fired employee to sue in civil court.
The Employee’s Point Of View
Let’s look at the South Carolina rules of what’s called wrongful termination. Even though the employer may have the power to fire, they also have some costs for acting unfairly. The employee has the best chance of winning a wrongful termination claim if they can show the termination was not only based on poor job performance. In your case, the issue was apparently a tactical or administrative decision, not based on your work ability or performance. The more an employee can prove the decision was based on purely irrelevant factors (race, personality or sex), the more likely they will receive some compensation for wrongful termination.
You can look at the case of Glover, and concentrate on how an employer based the termination in large part on being criticized. http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-4th-circuit/1441869.html. The federal National Labor Relations Board has also stepped in to try and limit South Carolina’s RTW rules following a disagreement over Boeing’s move there. http://www.scag.gov/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/alan-wilson-testimony-06.17.11-printedversion.docx.pdf.
The good thing (from the employee’s perspective) is that the process of making a complaint to a state agency will be fairly broad. Finally, there is even an interesting question about some of the unintended consequences of firing an employee this way. An important ex-employee right will be the right to probably file a valid claim for unemployment compensation, under these facts. http://dew.sc.gov/claim-eligible.asp.