Employment at Will in the United States: The Divine Right of Employers
Employment at Will in the United States: The Divine Right of Employers
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美国的随意就业：雇主的神圣权利
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发表时间：
2000
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
C. Summers
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作者：
C. Summers
田纳西州最高法院于 1884 年阐明了随意雇佣原则，从而赋予雇主对其雇员的神圣权利。这一原则过去是、现在仍然是支撑美国劳动法的基本前提。与几乎所有其他工业化国家和许多发展中国家不同，美国既没有通过普通法或成文法采取一般性保护措施，防止不公平解雇或无正当理由解雇，甚至也没有规定任何通知期。美国劳动法的这一独特之处不仅仅是关于解雇保护的一个小奇怪之处。它的触角触及了劳动法看似遥远的领域，因为其根源是关于雇主与雇员之间关系的基本法律假设。假设雇员只是劳动力的提供者，除了因所完成的劳动而获得报酬的权利之外，在企业中没有任何合法利益或股份。雇主作为企业的所有者，在法律上被赋予唯一的权利来决定与企业运营有关的所有事务。这包括其员工所完成的工作和继续雇用。法律赋予雇主完全的支配权，赋予雇主支配其雇员工作生活的神圣权利。正是这一假设赋予了美国劳动法许多独特的特征。在其他国家，员工被视为企业的成员。例如，在德国，员工选举产生的工作委员会除了在监事会中拥有代表权外，还拥有对工作安排、休假、
The Tennessee Supreme Court articulated the employment at will doctrine in 1884, thus endowing employers with divine rights over their employees. This doctrine has been, and still is, a basic premise undergirding American labor law. The United States, unlike almost every other industrialized country and many developing countries, has neither adopted through the common law or by statute a general protection against unfair dismissal or discharge without just cause, nor even any period of notice. This distinctive aspect of American labor law is more than a minor oddity concerning protection from dismissal. Its tentacles reach into seemingly remote areas of labor law, for at its roots is a fundamental legal assumption regarding the relation between an employer and its employees. The assumption is that the employee is only a supplier of labor who has no legal interest or stake in the enterprise other than the right to be paid for labor performed. The employer, as owner of the enterprise, is legally endowed with the sole right to determine all matters concerning the operation of the enterprise. This includes the work performed and the continued employment of its employees. The law, by giving total dominance to the employer, endows the employer with the divine right to rule the working lives of its subject employees. It is this assumption which gives American labor law much of its distinctive character. In other countries, employees are viewed as members of the business enterprise. In Germany, for example, the employee-elected works council has, in addition to representation on the supervisory board, codetermination rights over decisions such as work schedules, leaves,