Particularly in employment-at-will states, employers can do many things that are unfair but not illegal. Simple bad management is not against the law and is something often seen in organizations. That great machinist you promoted to supervisor may be a terrible manager because those two sets of skills are different from each other. The boss's son may receive more favorable treatment than non-relative employees but this does not ordinarily violate the law.
Some situations which are unfair may also be illegal though, so the two concepts can at times be equivalent. For example, differences in treatment based on sex, race, religion, age, color, national origin, and disability are illegal under federal law (and often state law too). There are other illegal reasons for treatment and termination besides these and also employees who have extra protections, like federal and state civil service employees, union employees, and persons with specific individual contractual protections, to name a few.
Thus, employment law is more complicated than simply applying general notions of unfairness or common sense to issues. For example, the lay definition of harassment is different than the legal definition of harassment, something that confuses laypersons quite frequently. The term "bullying" is often bandied about these days but whether such conduct is illegal or not usually depends on the behaviors, the severity, the frequency and often the motive behind them too. In short, don't depend on your Uncle Pete's legal advice, unless he is qualified to give it. http://www.employmentlawman.com/monday-morning-musings.html
Some situations which are unfair may also be illegal though, so the two concepts can at times be equivalent. For example, differences in treatment based on sex, race, religion, age, color, national origin, and disability are illegal under federal law (and often state law too). There are other illegal reasons for treatment and termination besides these and also employees who have extra protections, like federal and state civil service employees, union employees, and persons with specific individual contractual protections, to name a few.
Thus, employment law is more complicated than simply applying general notions of unfairness or common sense to issues. For example, the lay definition of harassment is different than the legal definition of harassment, something that confuses laypersons quite frequently. The term "bullying" is often bandied about these days but whether such conduct is illegal or not usually depends on the behaviors, the severity, the frequency and often the motive behind them too. In short, don't depend on your Uncle Pete's legal advice, unless he is qualified to give it. http://www.employmentlawman.com/monday-morning-musings.html
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