[hwstar]

Why do people confuse "Right to Work" with "Employment At Will"?

Right to work means that you can work for an employer without having to join a union or pay union dues. Right to work is used in conservative states to keep unions from forming.

Employment-at-will means your employer or you can terminate the employment relationship for (most) any reason whatsoever. If you are an employer, you can fire someone for wearing the wrong color shirt (This really happened). If you are the employee, you can say "I quit" and leave with no notice for not having coffee available in the workplace (also, really happened at one of my previous employers).

The problem with employment-at-will is that the employer has more power because the employer-employee relationship is asymmetrical.

We need to teach this stuff in high school civics so everyone can see how disgusting employment-at-will really is.

[AdieuToLogic]

> Why do people confuse "Right to Work" with "Employment At Will"?

You are right, I used the wrong term (Right to Work) where I meant "Employment at Will." Thank you for pointing this out as they are different.

While 22 states practice Right to Work laws[1], Employment at Will appears to be much more prevalent:

  Virtually all states are employment at
  will states, meaning that all states
  uphold the Doctrine to some degree. To
  what degree states uphold the Doctrine
  regarding employers' rights to discharge
  employees varies by state.

  EmploymentIssues[2]

1 - http://employment.laws.com/right-to-work-states

2 - http://employeeissues.com/at_will_states.htm

[hwstar]

49 states are at-will in various degrees. Montana is the exception: it practices "Just Cause" like the rest of the developed world.