When people lose their job, it wreaks havoc on their lives. If a person is fired without reason or unfairly, they are likely to seek compensation. If a person hasn't signed a contract or is fired, with exception to a few points in the employment at will doctrine, there is not much they can do about it. The law is on the side of the businesses in most cases of at-will employment.

In the case of Elaine, she was fired without notice or reason for termination. Elaine had been promised career opportunities and given a salary, but no contract was signed. Elaine's employer hired a new person for Elaine's position who had less education and experience. Elaine believes she was fired unfairly and is suing to get her job back. I believe Elaine may have a strong case because of the person who was hired for her position.

Elaine was fired without good reason or notice. The employer then replaced Elaine with a male employee with less job experience and less education. Elaine has a good chance of getting her job back by suing her employer for sex descrimination. Her successor was inferior to Elaine in a few key areas and that may prove the employer fired her due to descrimination.

There are some exceptions where employees cannot be fired even if they are at-will employees. One exception is a statutory exception. A statutory exception says an employer can't fire an employee that is a member of a labor union if their firing is in violation of labor laws or collective bargaining agreements. Another exception is an implied-in-fact contract. An implied-in-fact says that if the company states in a handbook, on a bulletin board or other means that an employee cannot be fired if they perform their job properly. A public policy exception states that an employee cannot be fired if it violates public policy. An employee cannot be fired for serving in jury duty, or refusing to break a