Last summer, Kristina Baumier was working at Oregon’s Renaissance Faire when a sign fell on her head. She ended up in urgent care with a concussion. For her troubles, the company immediately fired Kristina.
Stories of workers fired after getting injured, raising safety concerns, or forming a union are all too common. They are the result of our “at-will” employment policy, where an employee can be fired for any reason or no reason at all. At-will employment undermines labor protections, while making workers more financially insecure. It’s time to replace this with just-cause employment – requiring employers to provide a valid reason for termination.
As in nearly every state, at-will employment is Oregon’s default rule. It gives employers wide latitude to fire workers for reasons that are unfair, arbitrary, or never explained. A 2020 national survey found that 47 percent of workers had been fired for “no reason or a bad reason.”
At-will employment weakens workers’ right to organize. Although federal law makes it illegal to fire workers for organizing, at-will employment allows employers to circumvent that protection. If an employer suspects a worker supports a union, they can fire that worker immediately, leaving the worker to prove the firing was retaliation.
Workers are also less protected against discrimination under at-will employment. Employers can’t legally fire workers on the basis of race, sex or religion. But under at-will employment, an employer isn’t required to...
[Sportschosun Jang Jong-ho] A total of 34.789 billion won in false National Health Insurance claims was detected at 839 health care institutions over the past four years (2022-2025). According to d...