‘Why buy the cow, when you can get the milk for free?’

On July 4, 2021, New York City’s “Just Cause Law” took effect for fast-food operators and their employees.

Although many employers may be concerned these types of laws will spread to other municipalities or states, that may not necessarily be a bad thing.

In this episode of Union Free Radio, host Peter List unravels the history of “employment at will,” the mystery of “Just Cause Discipline,” as well as “Progressive Discipline,” and explains how New York City’s new law may actually hurt, rather than help, today’s unions.

“Once The State, or ‘Big Brother,’ is mandating wages and ‘fair treatment,'” List asks, “how many workers will voluntarily give a portion of their paychecks to advocacy group—or unions?”

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Links to articles and sources cited in this podcast:

• Employment-at-will Doctrine
• Servitude and Captivity in the Common Law of Master-Servant: Judicial Interpretations of the Thirteenth Amendment’s Labor Vision Immediately After Its Enactment [in PDF]
• Employment-at-Will Does Not Mean What You Think It Means | Inc.com
• [Montana] Wrongful Discharge From Employment Act (WDEA) Law and Legal Definition | USLegal, Inc.
• Newsflash: Big Changes to the Wrongful Discharge From Employment Act
• How to Use a Progressive Discipline System | SHRM
• New York City Says Goodbye to At-Will Employment for the Fast Food Industry
• New York City Enacts Sweeping Changes to Fast-Food Industry— Progressive Discipline Rules, “Just Cause” Discharge, Predictive Scheduling, and More | Epstein Becker & Green
• Fast Food Workers Just Cause Job Protections From Harlem To Hollis
• Jurassic Unions: Two “Pro-Union” Ideas To Save Unions Could Actually Help Kill Them Off
• In New York City, Fast-Food Workers May Soon Have a Permanent Voice
• Seven Tests of Just Cause | People & Culture
• Clarification of “Just Cause for Discipline”
• The Law of Unintended (and Unfortunate) Consequences: SEIU’s #FightFor15 Is Already Killing Jobs
• Samuel Gompers Papers