Wrongful-Discharge Legislation Ill-Advised

I would like to take issue with Harry Bernstein’s analysis of at-will employment (“Putting a Cap on ‘At Will’ Firings,” Dec. 12).

I do not know of one employee who was dismissed “on a whim after a bad night’s sleep.” Employers are running businesses, and successful businesses do not operate on whims. Much of this country is amid a labor shortage that is expected to continue into the foreseeable future. Employees are not nearly as disposable as Bernstein suggests.

Firing someone is one of the most stressful things a manager is asked to do, yet the current at-will doctrine is necessary to provide employers, particularly small employers, with a degree of flexibility in terms of staffing. In an economic downturn, for example, small businesses could be forced to go broke before being able to lay off staff.

The kind of legislation Bernstein is proposing not only hamstrings employers, it also hurts employees by serving to hamper the creation of full-time jobs. No employer wants to fire people, but if we are to compete into the 21st Century, we must remain fast and flexible. Wrongful-discharge legislation serves no purpose that cannot be better met by other means.

RONALD C. PILENZO

Alexandria, Va.

The writer is president of the Society for Human Resource Management.