Opinion ID: 1453310
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: preliminary overview

Text: This dissent is neither an apologia nor a protagonism concerning at-will employment. It is a statement of what is (prior to the instant majority opinion), rather than a philosophical proposition of what ought to be. It is also hopefully a reminder of the need for stability and predictability in the law as well as a reaffirmation of the proposition that judges should be reluctant to rush in where legislators fear to tread. It is also begrudgingly written in light of the constraints and non-renewability of time and a recognition that dissents are usually fodder for bonfires of the vanities, rarely read or heeded, and a source of congestion for consumers with increasingly limited storage space. Nevertheless, I am constrained to express my strong opposition to both the reasoning and the results of the majority opinion as a harbinger of things to come. As noted in Southwest Gas Corp. v. Ahmad, 99 Nev. 594, 668 P.2d 261 (1983), Nevada has not as yet seen fit to legislatively abrogate the common law rule concerning `at-will' employment. This rule, which remains in general effect throughout the United States, provides that employment for an indefinite term may be terminated at any time for any reason or for no reason by either the employee or the employer without legal liability. Id. at 596, 668 P.2d at 262 (Steffen, J. dissenting). [1] Fortunately, the evolution of the common law respecting the at-will doctrine has produced an ameliorative effect on the harshness of its pristine dictates. As of 1988, apparently a total of thirty-nine states had placed limitations of one form or another on the doctrine. Summers, Labor Law as the Century Turns: A Changing of the Guard, 67 Neb.L.Rev. 7, 14 (1988). In the cited article, Professor Summers also states: Although not all courts have recognized exceptions or limitations to the employment at will doctrine, courts in thirty-two states have adopted public policy exceptions, eleven states have applied the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and twenty-nine states have used employee handbooks to find contractual limitations on terminations. Id. at 13, 14. Heretofore, this court has also responsibly advanced the common law doctrine concerning at-will employment by recognizing strong public policy exceptions, e.g., Hansen v. Harrah's, 100 Nev. 60, 675 P.2d 394 (1984) (discharge in retaliation for filing workmen's compensation claim), and limitations resulting from express contracts evidenced in part by clear commitments in employee handbooks. American Bank Stationery v. Farmer, 106 Nev. 698, 799 P.2d 1100 (1990). When the smoke clears on today's opinion, and it is again seen in the clear light of day, it will be evident that, despite surface protestations to the contrary, the majority has come perilously close to taking the fallen baton from the legislature and decreeing an end to at-will employment.