At-Will Employment States

Map

Table

Introduction

In at-will employment states, an employer can fire an employee for any reason and at any time, as long as the reason is not illegal. Employees in the United States are entitled to various workplace rights, which entail that employees cannot be denied employment or be fired discriminately due to immutable characteristics such as, but not limited to, race, sex, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or veteran status. 

Every state in the U.S. has some form of at-will employment. At-will employment provides certain benefits for both employees and business owners. For example, it gives business owners the ability to reduce their cost of labor quickly, if necessary. On the other hand, it gives employees the ability to be flexible with regard to where they work, especially when it comes to leaving jobs they dislike in order to seek new employment opportunities.

In the event that an employer does terminate the employment of his or her employees in order to reduce labor costs, the employee can typically apply for and collect unemployment benefits so long as the termination of their employment was not caused by any fault of their own. 

Many states also have some form of a public policy exemption, which entails that an employee cannot be fired if firing that employee would violate public policy. For example, an employee could not be fired for refusing to do something that’s illegal in that state, for reporting a violation as a whistleblower, or for performing a civic duty such as attending jury duty.

Learn more about at-will employment by state by exploring the data in the charts.

StateAt-Will Employment StatusRight-to-Work Law
MontanaNoNo
AlabamaYesYes
AlaskaYesNo
ArizonaYesYes
ArkansasYesYes
CaliforniaYesNo
ColoradoYesNo
ConnecticutYesNo
DelawareYesNo
FloridaYesYes
GeorgiaYesYes
HawaiiYesNo
IdahoYesYes
IllinoisYesNo
IndianaYesYes
IowaYesYes
KansasYesYes
KentuckyYesYes
LouisianaYesYes
MaineYesNo
MarylandYesNo
MassachusettsYesNo
MichiganYesYes
MinnesotaYesNo
MississippiYesYes
MissouriYesNo
NebraskaYesYes
NevadaYesYes
New HampshireYesNo
New JerseyYesNo
New MexicoYesNo
New YorkYesNo
North CarolinaYesYes
North DakotaYesYes
OhioYesNo
OklahomaYesYes
OregonYesNo
PennsylvaniaYesNo
Rhode IslandYesNo
South CarolinaYesYes
South DakotaYesYes
TennesseeYesYes
TexasYesYes
UtahYesYes
VermontYesNo
VirginiaYesYes
WashingtonYesNo
West VirginiaYesYes
WisconsinYesYes
WyomingYesYes

At-Will Employment Status by State

Alabama

See less

do_not_disturb_on

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Alaska

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Arizona

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Arkansas

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

California

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Colorado

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Connecticut

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Delaware

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Florida

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Georgia

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Hawaii

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Idaho

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Illinois

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Indiana

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Iowa

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Kansas

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Kentucky

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Louisiana

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Maine

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Maryland

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Massachusetts

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Michigan

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Minnesota

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Mississippi

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Missouri

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Montana

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

No

Nebraska

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Nevada

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

New Hampshire

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

New Jersey

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

New Mexico

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

New York

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

North Carolina

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

North Dakota

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Ohio

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Oklahoma

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Oregon

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Pennsylvania

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Rhode Island

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

South Carolina

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

South Dakota

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Tennessee

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Texas

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Utah

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Vermont

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Virginia

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Washington

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

West Virginia

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Wisconsin

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes

Wyoming

See more

add_circle

At-Will Employment Status

help

Yes