The Case of Joseph Casias versus Wal-Mart Corporation

The decision to terminate an employee may be difficult for some managers depending on the situation at hand. Today, many states have adopted the employment at will law to fire employees for any or no reason, with the exception of employees that have a contract in place. According to Erickson (2008), “The basis for an employer to terminate an employee without being sued is the employment-at-will doctrine. This doctrine is a statement that is signed by both the employee and employer at the time of hire that states that the employee can quit at any time for any reason without notice and that the employer can terminate the employee at any time for any legal reason.” On the contrary to the definition of “At-Will” employment, Pozgar (2012) states, “The employment-at-will common law doctrine is not truly applicable in today’s society and many courts have recognized this fact. The twentieth century has witnessed significant changes in socio-economic values that have led to reassessment of the common law rule (p. 494). An example of an organization hiring on an employment on an at-will basis but terminating an employee without justifying the cause of action was the case of Joseph Casias versus Corporation. By law, an employer has to follow guidelines that essentially make ethos rules null and void because there is nothing to adhere to, especially in a circumstance where the employee is terminated by the at-will policy. In this situation, if the employer terminated by allegations that this employee was an active drug user. However, by law, according to Mr. Casias and his attorney, this employee had legitimate reasons for being involved in obtaining and smoking marijuana. As discussed in the case, the law protect employees from illegitimate...

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...this case, Mr. Casias was able to prove that Wal-Mart violated the at-will law and fired him without understanding the legitimate reason for his drug use. For this reason, it has been made clear that federal and state laws take precedence over manmade laws that maybe judgmental.

Works Cited

ACLU, American Civil Liberties Union. (2012, January 5). Casias V. Wal-Mart. Because Freedom Can’t Provide Itself. Retrieved April 6, 2014 from https://www.aclu.org/drug-law-reform/casias-v-wal-mart

Erickson, R. (June-July 2008).GoogoBits.com, www.googobits.com/articles/po-2259-how to legally terminate an employee.html. The Best Way to terminate an employee. Retrieved from http://www.aftermarket.org/Magazine/InsiderArchives/Toolbox/Termination.pdf

Pozgar, G.D. (2012). Legal Aspects of Health Care Administration. Annapolis, Maryland: Jones and Bartlett Learning, LLC.