Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T01:19:55.105Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Defense of Just Cause Dismissal Rules

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

John J. McCall
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

The United States is distinctive among advanced economies in that its employment laws and practices are governed by Employment at Will (EAW). Most other nations have variations on Just Cause dismissal rules. I argue that the U.S. preference for EAW is unsupported by concerns about net social or economic consequences. More centrally, I argue that the basic moral commitments that underlie the U.S. system of private property and freedom of contract are commitments that lend support to Just Cause over EAW.

Type
Articles
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , April 2003 , pp. 151 - 175
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abraham, Katherine, and Susan, Houseman. 1993. Job Security in America. Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institute.Google Scholar
Abraham, Katherine, and Susan, Houseman. 1994. “Does Employment Protection Inhibit Labor Market Flexibility?” In Social Protection versus Economic Flexibility. Rebecca, Blank, ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
American Civil Liberties Union Pamphlet. 1988. Rights in the Workplace. New York, N.Y.: The American Civil Liberties Union.Google Scholar
Beerman, Jack, and William, Singer. 1989. “Baseline Questions in Legal Reasoning: The Case of Property in Jobs.” Georgia Law Review 23: 911.Google Scholar
Bierman, Leonard, et al. 1993. “Montana’s Wrongful Discharge from Employment Act: The Views of the Montana Bar.” Montana Law Review 54: 367.Google Scholar
Blair, Margaret M. 1995. Ownership and Control: Rethinking Corporate Governance for the Twenty-First Century. Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution.Google Scholar
Carney, William. 1992. “ALI’s Corporate Governance Project: The Death of Property?” George Washington Law Review 61: 898.Google Scholar
DeBow, Michael, and Dwight, Lee, 1993. “Shareholders, Nonshareholders and Corporate Law: Communitarianism and Resource Allocation.” Delaware Journal of Corporate Law 18: 393.Google Scholar
Donkin, Richard. 1994. “Making Fairness Work.” The Financial Times, Management Section. September 7, 1994. p. 12.Google Scholar
Dworkin, Ronald. 1977. Taking Rights Seriously. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Eastlund, Cynthia. 2002. “How Wrong Are Employees about Their Rights, and Why Does it Matter?” New York University Law Review 77: 6.Google Scholar
Epstein, Richard. 1984. “In Defense of Contract at Will.” University of Chicago Law Review 51: 947.Google Scholar
Freeman, Richard, and Medoff, James. 1984. What Do Unions Do? New York, N.Y.: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Hager, Mark. 1991. “The Emperor’s Clothes Are Not Efficient.” American University Law Review 41: 7.Google Scholar
Herzberg, Frederick. 1987. “One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees?” Harvard Business Review 65: 109.Google Scholar
Houseman, Susan. 1990. “The Equity and Efficiency of Job Security.” In New Developments in the Labor Market. Abraham, K. and McKersie, R., eds. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Ichniowski, Casey. 1992. “Human Resource Management and Productive Labor-Management Relations.” In Research Frontiers in Industrial Relations and Human Resources. Lewin, D. et al., eds. Madison, Wis.: Industrial Relations Research Association.Google Scholar
Kim, Pauline T. 1997. “Bargaining with Imperfect Information: A Study of Worker Perceptions of Legal Protection in an At-Will World.” Cornell Law Review 83: 105.Google Scholar
Kim, Pauline T. 1999. “Norms, Learning and Law: Exploring the Influences on Workers’ Legal Knowledge.” University of Illinois Law Review 1999: 447.Google Scholar
Lazear, Edward P. 1992. “Compensation, Productivity and the New Economics of Personnel.” In Research Frontiers in Industrial Relations and Human Resources. Lewin, D. et al., eds. Madison, Wis.: Industrial Relations Research Association.Google Scholar
Levine, David, and Laura, D’Andre Tyson. 1990. “Participation, Productivity and the Firm’s Environment.” In Paying for Productivity. Blinder, A., ed. Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institute.Google Scholar
Macey, Jonathan. 1991. “An Economic Analysis of the Various Rationales for Making Shareholders the Exclusive Beneficiaries of Corporate Fiduciary Duties.” Stetson Law Review 21: 23.Google Scholar
Maitland, Ian. 1989. “Rights in the Workplace.” Journal of Business Ethics 8: 951.Google Scholar
McCall, John J. 2001. “Employee Voice in Corporate Governance: A Defense of Strong Participation Rights.” Business Ethics Quarterly 11: 1.Google Scholar
McGregor, Douglas. 1960. The Human Side of Enterprise. New York: McGraw Hill.Google Scholar
McKenzie, Richard. 1987. The Fairness of Markets. Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Millon, David. 1998. “Default Rules, Wealth Distribution and Corporate Law Reform.” University of Pennsylvania Law Review 146: 975.Google Scholar
Narveson, Jan. 1992. “Democracy and Economic Rights.” In Economic Rights. Paul, E. et al., eds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Nozick, Robert. 1974. Anarchy, State and Utopia. New York, N.Y.: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Osterman, Paul. 1992. “Internal Labor Markets in a Changing Environment.” In Research Frontiers in Industrial Relations and Human Resources. Lewin, D. et al., eds. Madison, Wis.: Industrial Relations Research Association.Google Scholar
Pfeffer, Jeffrey. 1998. The Human Equation. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Posner, Richard A. 1992. Economic Analysis of Law, 4th ed. Boston: Little Brown and Company.Google Scholar
Singer, Joseph William. 1988. “The Reliance Interest in Property.” Stanford University Law Review 40: 614.Google Scholar
Sunstein, Cass R. 2001. “Human Behavior and the Law of Work.” Virginia Law Review 87: 205.Google Scholar
Sunstein, Cass R. 2002. “Switching the Default Rule.” New York University Law Review 77: 106.Google Scholar
Thomson, Judith Jarvis. 1971. “In Defense of Abortion.” Philosophy and Public Affairs 1: 1.Google Scholar
Weiler, Paul. 1990. Governing the Workplace. Cambridge, Mass..: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Werhane, Patricia. 1985. Persons, Rights and Corporations. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Werhane, Patricia, and Tara, Radin. 1999. “Employment at Will and Due Process.” In Ethical Issues in Business: A Philosophical Approach, 6th ed. Thomas, Donaldson and Patricia, Werhane, eds. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar