by Recently Michigan became the first state in more than fifty years to repeal its right-to-work law. Some news commentators were criticized for confusing right-to-work with another legal concept, at-will employment, during their discussions regarding the law change. The mistaken news commentators are not alone in their confusion. Managers and even human resources professionals sometimes mix up the concepts.
A right-to-work law is a state law that prohibits unions from requiring workers to join a union or pay union dues as a condition of employment. It gives workers the right to choose if they want to join a union and pay union dues even when a union and their employer enter into an agreement that purports to require union membership. Also known as “open shop” laws, supporters of right-to-work laws argue that they help attract new businesses and create jobs by reducing the power of unions and giving employers greater flexibility in hiring and firing.
Unions and other opponents of these laws argue that right-to-work laws weaken unions, lower wages, and reduce benefits for workers by making it more difficult for unions to negotiate collective bargaining agreements. They also argue that right-to-work laws allow non-union employees to benefit from union-negotiated contracts without contributing to the cost of the negotiation.
At-will employment, on the other hand, refers to the ability of an employer to terminate an employee for any reason or no reason at all, as long as it is not based on an unlawful basis such as discrimination or retaliation. Likewise, at-will employment means an employee can quit their job for any reason or no reason without facing legal consequences.
Half of U.S. states have right-to-work laws, including the upper Midwest states of Wisconsin, South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, and Nebraska. In the absence of an employment contract or collective bargaining agreement, at-will employment is the default private employment relationship in all states except Montana. A Montana statute requires good cause for the termination of most private employees.
Employers in states other than Montana should be aware that under many state court applications of the at-will employment doctrine, policies and documents that require good cause for termination or that set other conditions for termination can change the at-will employment relationship with employees. This is possible even when the employer does not intend to change the relationship. Offer letter templates, employee handbooks, and other documents describing employment expectations should be reviewed carefully to ensure that the employer has not inadvertently changed the intended employment relationship under the laws of their state. Consult with legal counsel regarding state law interpretations.
Note: Some information on this post was drafted with the assistance of Chat GPT, the artificial intelligence chatbot developed by OpenAI and launched in November 2022. The tool’s explanation of right-to-work laws was accurate. The tool was inaccurate in some key details such as which states have right-to-work laws. Given the stated limitations of Chat GPT, it was expected that it would not have current information on Michigan law changes made in 2023. However the information was also inaccurate regarding states that have made no changes regarding right-to-work after 2020.
