At-Will Employment Debate

The cluster discusses at-will employment in the US, focusing on its voluntary nature, employee and employer rights to terminate without cause, and debates over fairness, exploitation, and confusion with right-to-work laws.

📉 Falling 0.2x Career & Jobs
3,761
Comments
20
Years Active
5
Top Authors
#924
Topic ID

Activity Over Time

2007
8
2008
6
2009
13
2010
55
2011
37
2012
104
2013
109
2014
114
2015
162
2016
188
2017
257
2018
259
2019
295
2020
392
2021
453
2022
401
2023
428
2024
304
2025
170
2026
6

Keywords

sfstandard.com US OP XYZ en.m wikipedia.org employment employer job employers employee employees labor laws voluntary desperate

Sample Comments

llukas Nov 24, 2016 View on HN

"it is at-will employment and nobody is being forced to take it."Or you're free to starve, right?

Hizonner Aug 7, 2025 View on HN

You are not required by law to subject yourself to your employer, or to any employer.

platz Nov 4, 2024 View on HN

Isn't employment in the US At-Will anyways?

module0000 Nov 1, 2018 View on HN

I'm not trying to troll you, but it's a voluntary "denial of justice". No one compels or coerces people to seek employment there. They apply, go through several interviews, and then voluntarily agree to whatever it is they agree to before day #1 of work. As long as people are willing to work there under XYZ conditions, people will continue to work there under XYZ conditions.

CodesInChaos May 30, 2021 View on HN

Did you confuse at-will employment (employer can fire for any reason) with right to work laws (companies can't have an agreement with a union that forces all employees to join or pay union dues)?

bmaupin Oct 3, 2019 View on HN

Sounds a lot like at-will employment (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At-will_employment)

fyrn_ Jan 4, 2024 View on HN

You mean at-will (employment) not right-to-work

throwawaymaths Jan 4, 2024 View on HN

I think you mean "at-will", not "right-to-work"

GFK_of_xmaspast Feb 13, 2016 View on HN

No-one has an obligation to continue working in a bad situation.

0daystock Jun 17, 2022 View on HN

Doesn't seem imbalanced to me. I can leave and take my labor to any other company tomorrow without obligations, covenants or restrictions (non-compete agreements notwithstanding). I prefer at-will employment. Perhaps low-skill or low-quality workers feel otherwise, but I'm confident in my ability to gain employment.