Meeting the wrongful discharge challenge: Legislative options for small business

The long-held prerogative of employers to dismiss employees at will has been seriously eroded, and the small business sector has a vested interest in helping to formulate new legislation that modifies traditional management prerogatives. Many employers choose a legalistic posture designed to preserve whatever at-will prerogatives may legally remain. A more humanistic, enlightened approach to human resource management might better achieve workplace harmony. Enlightened managers incorporate both ethical and legal principles into their culture-building activities, especially with respect to job security. The most effective way to protect both employees from unjust discharge and employers from wrongful dismissal lawsuits is to cement in statute key elements of the changed employment relationship.