7.1 Basic Principles

You’ve helped connect your client to available survival resources and explored ways to remove possible barriers to employment. If the immediate complaint is the most common one, job termination, check for possible legal claims. In Louisiana, the vast majority of workers have virtually no effective job protection. Because of the doctrine of employment “at will,” arbitrary firing is usually completely un-actionable.1  If there is no specific contract and an employee is hired for an indefinite period, then the employment relationship is terminable at the will of either party.

Complaints about dismissals often focus on unfairness, lack of advance notice, or inaccurate information used as the basis for termination. These are not exceptions to the at-will doctrine. An employer may give a wrong reason or even none at all. Even an employer’s violation of its own policies or a statute may not give rise to an enforceable claim. It can be difficult for an unfairly treated person to accept the current limits of the law, but advising clients about the at-will doctrine may also help end a fruitless and draining search for legal redress or help them deal with future job situations.

Even if your client was an at-will employee, federal, state, or local laws may exist to provide a cause of action. Title 23 of Louisiana’s Revised Statutes, “Labor and Worker’s Compensation,” is where many (but by no means all) state laws may be found. If you lack the resources to pursue a claim, try to at least identify possible claims for your client, refer them to appropriate agencies and to other legal resources, and emphasize the need for timely follow-up. Other lawyers may also see claims you miss.

• 1See La. C.C. art. 2747.