The Politics of Employee Discharge: Triggering, Representation, and Venue

This article analyzes the failed effort to reform employment termination policy in the United States during the 1980s and early 1990s using the procedures of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. This effort sought to replace the common law doctrine of employment-at-will with state "just cause" arbitration statutes that would grant limited rights to discharged employees while capping the remedies available to prevailing claimants. The resulting Model Employment Termination Act and the failure of states to adopt it are explained by structural and strategic factors, including movement of the judicial "trigger," the configuration and representation of interests, and the choice of policy venue.