Laws on Employment at Will in Indiana
Employment at will is the prevailing doctrine regarding personnel decisions in Indiana and most other states. At its core, employment at will means both employers and employees can end the working relationship whenever they choose. Neither side needs a good reason, meaning employers can fire employees with no justification and employees can walk away from the job. But certain limitations to employment at will provide protection to Indiana employees.
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Basics
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The Indiana Department of Labor states that employers can terminate employees for any legal reason or no reason at all if the employer chooses. No law compels employers to follow a certain procedure when terminating employees. Employers do not need to provide warnings or a fair hearing, or alert individual employees that a discharge could be pending if they do not change their performance or behavior on the job.
Statutory Restrictions
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Indiana employers may not take any adverse action, including termination, based on the race, sex, age, disability, national origin or religion of any employee. Such an action would be a violation of anti-discrimination laws. For employees who need time off from work because of a serious illness or injury, the Family and Medical Leave Act provides job-protected leave as long as the employees have eligibility under the FMLA and follow proper procedures for requesting it. If employees are ineligible for FMLA leave and miss work because of a health problem, however, their employer could fire them.
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Contractual Restrictions
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Indiana employers' authority under employment at will might run up against limits in the form of a collective bargaining agreement or another type of employment contract that expressly states the permissible reasons for termination. A collective bargaining agreement might stipulate that discharges can take place only because of misconduct or repeatedly poor performances, for example, not for more arbitrary reasons such as a personal disagreement with the employer or an isolated mistake.
Policy Exception
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Court precedent in Indiana prevents employers from terminating employees who decline a request or order to violate public policy. Employers that dismiss employees in that circumstance might be vulnerable to a lawsuit. For example, a the Indiana Supreme Court in 1988 recognized the viability of a lawsuit arising from a termination of a truck driver who refused to transport materials that exceeded the weight limit on roads in neighboring Illinois. The employee would have been personally liable for the violation, and the employer could not legally punish him for refusing to do so.
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References
- Indiana Department of Labor; Influenza in the Work Place Sample Questions With Responses; August 2009
- International Labour Organization; Termination of Employment --- Profiles of National Legislation --- United States of America; Leviter Lee et al.; February 2007
- Indiana Department of Labor: Wage & Hour FAQs
- Indiana Supreme Court; Paul Meyers v. James Meyers et al.; February 2007
