“I live in a right-to-work state, so my employer can shitcan me for any reason”.
-Linus K. Lemming
Sorry friends, that’s at-will employment, *and you still can’t be terminated for any reasons that are protected by law, but we’re not here to discuss that. Right-to-work laws mean one thing: that non-union employees cannot be required to contribute to the cost of union representation.
The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 prohibits “closed shops”, where union membership is a condition of employment; however, union represented positions can still be required to contribute to the cost of that representation. Right-to-work laws prohibit that requirement, allowing employees in union represented positions who choose not to join the union to also choose whether or not they contribute to the union’s costs, i.e., if they pay dues or not.
I see this mistake frequently and thought folks might want to know the correct information so they don’t unintentionally perpetuate it.
Edit: updated to include link to info about at-will employment.
I don’t think individual anecdotes are that useful here. For example, a dude I worked with reported his old boss was extremely racist and made all sorts of hiring decisions based on race and stereotypes. Is that common? You’d have to find or do some studies to find out.
That’s not even touching implicit bias and friends. Perhaps when the white guy is late it’s traffic, but when the black guy is late it’s because he’s irresponsible. That kind of thinking happens all the time, to all of us.