What does employment at will really mean?

[greenlights0000]

Like fired at any time for no reason? I just got an offer letter that said that and never had before

[Mrs._December]

"At will" basically means a company can hire you - and fire you - at will according to the labor laws of their state.

 

They don't need to have a reason if tomorrow they decide they no longer want you in their employ or they don't like you and decide to fire you. Legally, they can do that.

 

However, while that's their right as an employer in their particular state, most don't dare fire someone for frivolous reasons due to the "wrongful termination" lawsuits sometimes brought about by disgruntled employees who feel they were fired without good cause. My prior company got around that by eliminating the 'position' of the person which of course, ended up eliminating the person. When they'd hire someone to replace that terminated person, the new employee was usually given a slightly different title. This little ploy, of course, rendered a wrongful termination lawsuit by the prior employee pretty useless because that job title simply no longer existed. Yeah, my prior company was sleazy as hell.

[alphamale]

it means that you or the employer can terminate employment at any time for any reason without notice.

[greenlights0000]

Well, there are people that have been working there for more than a year, or 5, 10 years..and the manager said there are a lot of perks working there. I don’t get then why is it a will does it only apply to me?

[major_merrick]

Yep. You can be fired at any time for any reason, or no reason at all. Some states have little to no employee protections, and so employment-at-will makes wrongful termination lawsuits quite difficult.

[Mr. Lucky]

OP, you don't say whether you're in the US.

 

If you are, you's still have federal protection against discrimination-based employment actions, assuming you'd be willing to pursue after the illegal act occurs...

 

Mr. Lucky