What Every Employee in Texas Should Know About the At-Will Employment Doctrine

In Texas, at-will employees are not required to give any notice to their employers. You could leave a sticky note—or just walk out and never return.

In Texas, absent a contract, the relationship between an employer and an employee is "at-will", meaning that, except for very limited circumstances, either party may terminate the employment relationship for any reason or no reason at all. At-will employment is an important and long-standing doctrine in Texas that the courts and Legislature is reluctant to alter.

In Texas, employment is presumed to be at-will unless there is an unambiguous agreement stating otherwise. An employer may modify the employment terms of the at-will status of its employees by clearly indicating an explicit intention not to terminate the employee except under clearly specified circumstances. General comments that an employee will not be discharged as long as his work is satisfactory do not alter the at-will status. Additionally, the at-will status will not be altered by statements by an employer that an employee will be discharged only for good reason or good cause when there is no agreement on what those terms encompass. Without such agreement, employers retain the right to terminate employees for good cause, bad cause, or no cause at all. An employee who has no formal agreement with his employer cannot construct one out of imprecise comments, encouragement, or assurances. 

Limitations on Employers

At-will employment currently remains the most common employment arrangement in Texas. While the at-will doctrine seems to put employees in a more vulnerable position than employers, federal, state, and local anti-discrimination and retaliation laws ban discrimination on grounds most people would find morally reprehensible in this day and age (e.g., discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, or national origin).

Moreover, employers cannot terminate employees where the termination is specifically prohibited by statute (e.g., fulfilling jury service, voting, having one's wages garnished, or filing a workers' compensation claim) or where employees refuse to perform illegal acts. In either of these instances, an employee may be able to sue his employer for wrongful termination.

What Employees Should Remember—Defamation

Employees often forget that they typically can more easily terminate an at-will employment relationship than employers. Many employees, especially Millennials and Generation Zers, are becoming more conscious of this and have less qualms about leaving dissatisfying jobs than previous generations. Furthermore, as Millennials and Generation Zers gradually dominate the workforce, the concept of giving two-weeks' notice is slowly becoming a vestige of the past. In Texas, at-will employees are not required to give any notice to their employers. Consequently, we may begin to see increased instances of employers defaming former employees in retaliation for quitting without notice.

Defamation takes two forms: slander and libel. Slander is a false oral statement about someone that is communicated to a third person without a legal excuse. Libel is defamation expressed in written form. A statement is defamatory if the words tend to injure a person's reputation, exposing the person to public hatred, contempt, ridicule, or financial injury. Defamatory statements are "published" if they are communicated orally, in writing, or in print to some third person capable of understanding their defamatory significance and in such a way that the third person did so understand.

However, be aware that Texas law does not require an employer to provide an employment reference to or about a current or former employee. Additionally, the law protects employers from civil liability where they provide prospective employers with truthful information about the work histories and job performance of current and former employees. Even if that truthful disclosure negatively affects a current or former employee's chances of being hired by a prospective employer, the employer is very likely immune from civil liability (i.e., can’t be sued).

If you believe your employer has wrongfully terminated your employment citing the at-will employment doctrine, please schedule a consultation today. Do not rely on this post as legal advice. This post does not create an attorney-client relationship between the Firm and the reader. Do not act in reliance on the contents of this post without seeking the advice of counsel.