At Will Employment

Texas is an "at will" employment state. Almost all of us are employed "at the will" of our employer, which means that if our employer doesn't want us around anymore, he or she can fire us without worrying about our reaction.

As a general rule, employers in Texas can fire their employees for any reason or for no reason at all. The reason given for firing an employee doesn't have to be true, it doesn't have to be fair, and it doesn't even have to be rational. If your boss wants to fire you because he has suddenly decided that you are, in fact, a 15 foot tall green rabbit, it is his absolute right to do so.

There are some exceptions to this general rule, and as you might imagine the exceptions have been the subject of a lot of litigation over the years.

• A. Anti-discrimination statutes provide the basis for most of the employment claims you read and hear about. While an employer may fire an employee for just about any reason under Texas law, it is illegal for him to do so because of race, gender, age, sexual preference, religious beliefs or (due to the recent passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act) because of a disability. Likewise, it is illegal to discriminate against employees for any of these reasons—this is the basis of the suits we have all read about involving allegations of sexual harassment, or racial preferences. As a practical matter, many of the most bigoted employers are at least smart enough not to tell anyone that the reason they are not promoting a homosexual, woman or Hispanic is because of their status as such. Many suits in Federal court deal with the issue of whether a particular employee was fired or not promoted due to an illegal motive, rather than for some other reason.
• B. Contract Law also provides the basis for many claims against employers. In order to be successful on such a claim, the employee must prove that the employer made an enforceable promise to employ the employee. This requires much more than statements like "If you do a good job we'll keep you around". Instead, it requires that a court be able to determine that you were promised a specific job, at a specific rate of pay, with specific duties, for a specific length of time. To be enforceable, these contracts need to be in writing.
• C. Worker's Compensation Law in Texas makes it illegal for an employer to fire an employee because he made a claim for worker's compensation benefits. Some employers still, in spite of this law, punish workers for making injury claims by demoting them or firing them, often on a transparent pretext, so as to avoid paying injury claims. Such "retaliatory firing" by employers entitles employees to recover civil damages from the employer and can expose the employer to stiff fines.
• D. Whistleblowers have protection from being fired as a result of reporting illegal activities of their employers, but only in narrow situations. The law in this area is constantly changing, and it is very clear that not every whistleblower will be protected.