Second Thoughts on a Restatement of Employment Law

Abstract:     
The American Law Institute has circulated a draft of a proposed Restatement of the Law of Employment. The author takes a close look at what the project has chosen to cover and what it has chosen not to cover; and, in particular, undertakes a detailed examination of its proposed treatment of wrongful dismissal. The essay criticizes the lack of any explanation of the project's purposes, of the choices it has made in coverage and approach, and in failing to attend to the most pressing areas calling for law reform. It singles out the draft's approach to wrongful dismissal for failing to confront the real issue posed by the erosion of the at-will rule and, at best, as tending to ossify an as yet unsettled (and unsettling) body of law. The essay proposes alternatives on both accounts.

Accepted Paper Series