Protect Yourself

I'm learning a lot about "at-will" firing a little late in the game. I had the crazy notion that as long as I performed well and gave no reason for disciplinary action, my job was safe. This was not the case.

Without a contract, a company can fire you for any reason without warning. There are laws preventing a company from firing based on race, age, sex, religion, marital status, or pregnancy (curiously, most states have NOT added sexual preference to the list yet), but what is to stop an employer from discriminating under the guise of "at-will"? If employers are not required to give any reason for firing non-contract labor, who is protecting those employees' rights?

About a year ago, 20 employees at a Michigan company with a no-smoking policy lost their jobs because a tobacco detection test revealed that they smoked cigarettes on their time off. I'm not a big fan of smoking, but I believe that an employee's off-time hobbies and habits (legal ones, at least) should not be just cause for termination. (Keep in mind that -along with California- Michigan has the strictest, most progressive labor laws in the nation.)

I had no idea that such practices were still allowed until I found myself the victim of a similar situation. Beware of small companies- the fewer levels of management, the easier it is to discriminate without reprisals. Larger companies also tend to have some sort of "good faith" policy in the handbook that will protect you in court. Most of all, protect yourself and ask for a contract. I know I will.