Can one be fired for &quot;not being a good fit&quot;? NY/USA here if jurisdiction matters. I am employed full-time and am salaried. I have an at-will employment with no special contractual constraints with my employer. Can I lawfully be fired for simply "not being a good fit"? What does the employer have to prove to claim this?
Yes, you can be fired for "not being a good fit": New York State is generally considered to be an "employment at will" state, which means that a private sector employer can pretty much hire and fire as he or she pleases and a discharged employee usually will have no legal recourse even when the discharge is unfair or unreasonable. Source: New York State Office of the Attorney General
Yes. Technically, it would probably not be a claim for lost wages (which are usually awarded when someone injures you in a way that leaves you unable to work) but rather a claim for breach of contract. In that case, you would seek damages equal to the wages that you would have reasonably expected to earn. Keep in mind, though, that before making an award of contract damages, a court may expect to see proof that you've attempted to mitigate your damages, meaning that you tried to find work to replace the work that was promised. If you were promised a $100,000 apprenticeship, for instance, and you found a $75,000 apprenticeship, you would be eligible for the difference: $25,000 in damages. If you make reasonable efforts to find work but are unsuccessful, you'd be eligible for the full $100,000. If you make no efforts to mitigate, a court may deny damages altogether, or award "nominal" damages, which usually means $1.
I would recommend talking to an adult person in HR. I'm quite sure they will notice that what your manager wants to do is more than dodgy, and doing something dodgy may be in the interest of your manager, but not in the interest of the company. The best thing is to go to HR, acting as if a mistake has been made, and point out to them what your start date was, and that the new contract has the incorrect starting date, and they need to fix this mistake or you can't sign the contract. If they insist you sign it, then you DON'T sign it. If they say you will be fired if you don't sign it, then you tell them that in that case you would get legal advice. BTW. You definitely don't sign this as it is. PS. This answer was posted on workplace.stackexchange, not law.stackexchange, so please don't complain if there is no legal content.
Everything which is not prohibited is allowed This is the fundamental basis of the common law (and is one of the reasons that countries with a common law tradition continue to be relatively more innovative than those without). However, things do not have to be prohibited by statute to be prohibited. Judges have discretion to say that a “new” thing is sufficiently similar to an “old” thing that a prohibition on the latter encompasses the former. As to your particular question: if it isn’t prohibited for a contract (of employment) to prohibit disclosure of salaries then its permitted for one to do so. In australia it is prohibited to so limit employees but such a clause can limit the employer.
In the US, persons with a disability are entitled to a reasonable accommodation for their disability. There is no requirement to tell an employee everything about their working conditions before a hire, in fact it would be illegal for the employer to ask &quot;Do you have a disability that would prevent you from working underground?&quot;. Once hired, you can request an accommodation for your disability.
Financial institutions in the US are subject to regulations that restrict what sorts of things non-licensed employees can talk about with clients and advice they can give about structuring accounts and payments in ways that might avoid triggering money laundering alarms. I think this employee was being cautious about getting into a gray area and phrased the reason they couldn't talk about it poorly. The reason they were restricted from giving you an answer could be a legality, but not necessarily because they are giving you legal advice.
Yes, the employee can choose not to accept the contract offered at the end of the probationary period and thereby allow the probationary period to end without accepting a long-term position. This is usually called "quitting".
I’m guessing you have seen a sign in a business that read - “Management reserves the right to refuse service to anyone”. At least in the US, they do not need a reason as long as the reason isn’t unlawful discrimination. They can decide not to serve you.