State common law wrongful discharge doctrines: Up-date, refinement, and rationales

States have been carving out common law exceptions to the doctrine of employment at will. Through an extensive evaluation of the precedent-setting cases in each state, it is possible to develop a framework for analysis. This framework categorizes states based on what version of the exceptions (public policy, implied contract, or good faith and fair dealing exception) they have adopted and how large the exception is (i.e., narrower, broader, neither). It also examines the timing of the state-level judicial adoptions of these exceptions to employment at will. For each precedent-setting case, the court's rationale for adopting or rejecting a theory of wrongful discharge is recorded and analyzed. These rationales provide insight into judicial thinking and the manner in which the law of unjust discharge has developed. Reviewing the framework, one must conclude that judicial recognition of the public policy and implied contract doctrines during the 1980s was heavily influenced by the diffusion of legal precedent across states, but conferred upon employees only limited protection against wrongful termination.