Can I be terminated for an alleged bad attitude without any progressive discipline?
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Can I be terminated for an alleged bad attitude without any progressive discipline?
My employer threw a fit screaming at me because of an alleged bad attitude – I wasn’t attending a voluntary event due to financial problems and demanded I leave immediately. He left for vacation that day but was willing to sit down with me several days later when he returned. He apologized for his behavior but informed me that while I was out of work the rest of the staff voted to terminate me. I was not ever given any verbal or written warnings/reprimands for anything and when confronted the staff could only tell me I was not a good fit after 10 months of working there.
Asked on December 15, 2011 under Employment Labor Law, Montana
Answers:
M.D., Member, California and New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
Did your dismissal violate existing company policy regarding terminations? Was your firing under the circumstances prohibited by a union contract or an employment agreement? Was your treatment the result of actionable discrimination (and it doesn't appear from the limited facts resented that it was)?
If no to all of the above, then no law was broken. Your discharge was perfectly legal. The fact is that in an at will employment relationship, an employer can dictate the terms and condtions of employment much as it sees fit. This incluses terminating an employee for any reason or no reason at all, with or without notice.
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