- Employment in Utah is “at-will.” That means that unless there is a written contract which specifies a specific period of time which the employee will be employed or that the employee will be discharged only for good cause an employer may terminate an employee at any time for any reason or for no reason other than an illegal reason. An illegal reason is one which violates a statute or a clear and substantial public policy. The statutes which restrict the ability to terminate are those establishing protected classes like age, race, religion, sex, national origin, disability or military status.
- An unfair termination is not necessarily an illegal termination. When reducing staff an employer does not have to rely on seniority unless there is a contract, usually a union contract, which requires it to do so. The fact that the employer has a progressive discipline policy or a handbook describing specific reasons for termination does not mean that the employer will be limited to terminating employees only for those cause. Poor management policies are not generally illegal
