Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1993

Abstract

The Model Employment Termination Act(META), which the Uniform Law Commissioners have recommended for adoption by all state legislatures, could provide the most significant legal change of this quarter century in the American workplace. In addition, if the annual case load of grievance arbitrations in this country now stands at somewhere around 65,000, the Act holds the potential for at least quadrupling that figure. Our colleague Jack Stieber has calculated that there are 60 million U.S. employees who are not protected by union contracts or civil service laws, and are thus subject to the employment-at-will doctrine. They can be fired for any reason whatsoever (absent a civil rights violation), and, in fact, 2 million of them are discharged each year. Stieber further estimates that 150,000-200,000 of these worlcers would have a claim under the "just cause" standards generally applicable in unionized industries.


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