Have California employers experienced problems in maintaining at-will employment relationships with their employees?
Yes. California Labor Code Section 2922 provides that an ‘employment having no specified term may be terminated at the will of either party on notice to the other.’ In the 1980s, however, California courts ruled that Sec. 2922 created a mere presumption of at-will status which — in the absence of an express, written at-will agreement — may be overcome by oral assurances of continued employment or an implied-in-fact contract requiring good cause for termination. As a result, diligent employers made sure their employees signed written at-will employment agreements, imbedded in employment applications, offer letters, employee handbook acknowledgments, and other documents. Some employers struggled with the language used in such documents. They felt that telling an employee or applicant he or she could be terminated without cause was too harsh. They attempted to construct softer sounding at-will provisions, such as, ‘You retain the option to terminate your employment at any time and the com
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