This commentary is by Joseph Moore of Montpelier, a union organizer, co-chair of the Central Vermont Democratic Socialists of America, and member of the Vermont PRO Act Coalition.
Have you or someone you know ever been fired from a job with no warning or justification?
A bill currently in the state Legislature, H.219, would give Vermont workers greater protection against arbitrary dismissals.
Abrupt firings are a fairly common occurrence in the U.S., according to recent data from the National Employment Law Project. That project’s 2022 survey of U.S. adults found that more than two out of three fired workers received no reason or an unfair reason for their termination, and three out of four received no warning before being dismissed.
No-cause terminations are permissible in most states, including Vermont, under the “at-will” employment rule. Workers employed at will can be fired without advance notice, a good reason, or a fair process.
About 40 percent of American workers have been fired or let go by employers at some point in their lives. For many workers, arbitrary firing can have devastating impacts. More than a third of job separations result in workers not having a stable job for at least three months, according to the National Employment Law Project.
A 2022 survey by the personal finance company Bankrate found that more than half of Americans do not have enough savings to cover a $1,000 emergency expense. For many workers, sudden job loss can lead to housing and food insecurity, medical debt, and loss of child care, among other harms.
At-will employment also discourages workers from reporting harassment, discrimination and unsafe working conditions for fear of employer retaliation. More than one out of three workers reported not speaking up about dangerous or unhealthy working conditions for fear of being disciplined or fired, according to the National Employment Law Project survey. Nearly half of workers reported putting up with verbal abuse from a supervisor. There are laws in place that prohibit employers from retaliating against workers who assert their rights on the job. But when workers can be fired for any reason or no reason at all, enforcing these laws is very difficult.
This state of affairs is not the norm in most of the world’s wealthy democracies. The United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, Germany and Japan, among many other countries, have “good-cause” employment standards to protect workers against arbitrary firing.
“Good-cause” employment, as opposed to employment at will, requires an employer to demonstrate a good reason for discharging a worker. These can include poor work performance that does not improve after feedback and coaching, violations of important employer policies, employee misconduct, and genuine economic reasons, such as when a business declines.
Good cause also requires the employer to provide fair notice to workers when they are performing below expectations and give them an opportunity to improve.
Good cause is already the standard for most American workers covered by a union contract. In recent years, several states and municipalities have made strides toward expanding this essential protection to more workers. The City of Philadelphia enshrined good cause protections for parking lot attendants in 2019. In 2020, New York City did the same for fast food workers. Within the last few years, good-cause employment bills have been introduced in both Illinois and Maine.
Vermont lawmakers now have an opportunity to secure good cause job protections for all Vermont workers by passing H.218, introduced by Rep. Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, P/D-Burlington. Good cause is also featured in a broader workers’ rights bill, H.219, informally called the “Vermont Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act,” which would make it easier for workers to form unions and collectively bargain with their employer. If enacted, these bills would make Vermont a leader in workers’ rights nationally.
No Vermonter should ever have to suffer the indignity and hardship of losing their job without warning or explanation.
