Legal Question in Employment Law in California

At-will employment

I have a sales employee who has not brough any new business into the firm in the past year. Additionally, he just lost the ONLY contract he was bidding. He is over 50 and has been with the company for just over one year. His employee file contains no performance appraisal and no disciplinary actions have been taken. Can we terminate him based on the employment-at-will doctrine? He signed an employment agreement (not a contract) outlining this doctrine upon hire. If not, what steps do we have to take to temrinate him and protect ourselves?


Asked on 4/27/99, 6:01 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Ken Koury Kenneth P. Koury, Esq.

Re: At-will employment

Legally, you can get rid of him right now without doing anything more. Performance evaluations and other types of documentation are not legal requirements but really back up in case of a lawsuit later. If an employee files a lawsuit, he must prove that the firing was unlawful, you do not have to prove it was for business reasons. The extra documentation is good practice because it is strong evidence to counter evidence the employee may have (which is usually vague and circumstantial) that the lay off was not for legitimate business reasons. In your case, your regular sales records should be more than enough to successfully defend any future lawsuit the guy might file.

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Answered on 4/30/99, 6:15 pm


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