at-will employment doctrine in Mississippi

2007See Willard v. Paracelsus Health Care Corp., 681 So.2d 539 (Miss.1996) (employees fired for reporting forgeries and financial irregularities in business records).

2005See Willard v. Paracelsus Health Care Corp., 681 So. 2d 539 (Miss. 1996) (employees fired for reporting forgeries and financial irregularities in business records).

2020Under the at-will-employment doctrine, “absent an employment contract expressly providing to the contrary, an employee may be discharged at the employer’s will for good reason, bad reason, or no reason at all, excepting only reasons independently declared legally impermissible.” McArn v. Allied Bruce-Terminix Co., Inc., 626 So. 2d 603, 606 (Miss. 1993) (quoting Shaw v. Burchfield, 481 So. 2d 247, 254 (Miss. 1985)).

2020It also contradicts existing law that the at-will-employment doctrine can be altered only by “an employment contract expressly providing to the contrary.” McArn, 626 So. 2d at 606 (emphasis added). ¶14.

2018In Bobbitt v. Orchard, Ltd. , 603 So.2d 356 , 357 (Miss. 1992), the Court recognized the following exception to the employment at will doctrine: [W]hen an employer publishes and disseminates to its employees a manual setting forth the proceedings which will be followed in event of an employee's infraction of rules, and there is nothing in the employment contract to the contrary, then the employer will be required to follow its own manual in disciplining or discharging employees for infractions or misconduct specifically covered by the manual. ¶ 17.

2007Clanton relies on the exception to the at-will employment doctrine established in Bobbitt v. Orchard Ltd., 603 So.2d 356 (Miss.1992).

2020Under the at-will-employment doctrine, “absent an employment contract expressly providing to the contrary, an employee may be discharged at the employer’s will for good reason, bad reason, or no reason at all, excepting only reasons independently declared legally impermissible.” McArn v. Allied Bruce-Terminix Co., Inc., 626 So. 2d 603, 606 (Miss. 1993) (quoting Shaw v. Burchfield, 481 So. 2d 247, 254 (Miss. 1985)).

2017Valley State Univ., 873 So.2d 970, 986 (¶ 46) (Miss. 2004)).

2017Mississippi’s adherence to the at-will-employment doctrine usually precludes an at-will employee from suing for wrongful termination as “an employee may be discharged at the employer’s will for good reason, bad reason, or no reason at all, excepting only reasons independently declared legally impermissible.” Galle v. Isle of Capri Casinos Inc., 180 So.3d 619, 622 (¶ 13) (Miss. 2015) (quoting Harris v. Miss.