South Florida Personal Injury Blog

In the state of Florida, most workers are "at will" employees, according to Fort Lauderdale employment discrimination attorneys Andrew Alitowski and William Moore. That means that employment is at will, or for so long as the employer and employee both want it to continue. Although most workers and employers generally think that employees should give two weeks of notice prior to leaving the position, the employee is not required to give any notice at all. Likewise, even though an employer might be doing the "right" thing to tell workers about layoffs in advance, before the date at which the employees must cease their work, the employer is not required to give the workers any such notice at all. Broward employment lawyer Alitowski counsels workers on employment issues as part of his employment discrimination law practice.

A contract can alter at will employment. For example, a contract for a specified period of time prevents an employer from firing an employee before the end of the project or date at which the contract ends, as long as the contractual employee is completing his obligations in connection with the agreement.

There are cases, however, when at will -- not contractual -- employees cannot be fired. For example, they cannot be fired for discriminatory reasons, such as their race, sex, or national original. An employee cannot be fired because she is pregnant or could become pregnant. An employer also cannot fire a worker because of her religion, whether it is because it is not the same as her employer's faith, she is not religious at all, the employer does not approve of her religion, or any other reason associated with discrimination on the basis of religion.

Employers cannot fire at will employees for the wrong reasons. Both state and federal law protect "whistleblowers" -- employees who alert management within the company or outside governmental agencies about illegal activities occurring in the workplace. For example, a company cannot fire a worker for retaliation if she alerts federal inspectors that the meat processing plant is not in compliance with regulations. If the company fired her, she could sue for wrongful termination and receive back wages. Contact wrongful termination lawyer Andrew Alitowski for more information if you believe you have been wrongfully terminated or you lost your employment due to retaliatory measures.

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