Legal Question in Employment Law in North Carolina

''Nature of the business''

really Hope you can help me. A few years ago while I was looking for information on something when I came across a story about a retired construction worker who returned to the work force in brand new unrelated field after an accident prevented him from working construction. After a few months he was terminated for using profanity, not at any one specifically, but in a generalized way. He filed a lawsuit against the company for unlawful termination based on the fact that his former occupation of some 35-40 years was such that things like swearing, tasteless jokes, and a 'reaction based attitude' were considered commonplace and acceptable as �the nature of the business� and helped form his own personality and he could not be expected change to suit a particular job. Is there a law or precedent that covers this and can it be expanded to cover other labor issues where certain things like working off the books, behavior or dress codes are outside the norm but can be considered as being the nature of the particular business.


Asked on 9/23/08, 2:34 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Daniel Meier Meier & Franklin, PLLC

Re: ''Nature of the business''

I doubt his lawsuit was successful, but would have to know more details. In general, North Carolina is an employment at will state, which means your employer can fire you at any time, for any reason, or for no reason. The exceptions are race, age, gender, ethnicity, disability, national origin, religion, or public policy.

If they don't like the way you dress, or don't like that you swear, unless you can show that is a pretext for one of the prohibited categories, it doesn't matter if you thought it was okay, or used to work in a place where it was, they can fire you.

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Answered on 9/27/08, 11:54 am


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