Minimum Wage

• Minimum wage laws are perhaps the most familiar guidelines governing the employment relationship. They set the price floor for labor and are designed to combat poverty and increase the standard of living for lower skilled workers. Libertarian theorists such as Ron Paul are against minimum wage laws, arguing they artificially value labor and disrupt the free market, resulting in job loss when employers cannot pay wages for unskilled laborers.
  
  

At Will

• Most employees work under an at-will employment contract with their employer. This doctrine recognizes that the employer or employee may terminate their employment relationship at any time for any reason, barring certain legal limitations. Most states recognize public policy exceptions against at-will termination, such as firing a single mother due to moral disagreement. Additionally, most employers are bound to a covenant of good faith and fair dealing, typically requiring that employees only be fired for just cause.
  
  

Labor Contracts

• Employment contracts can modify the at-will presumption in employment. While non-executives very rarely have a labor contract, courts have interpreted various other interactions between employers and employees as giving rise to some contractual protections. For instance, guidelines in employee handbooks---such as those defining causes for termination---are sometimes read to be a contractual guarantee. Additionally, oral or written promises upon which employees rely---such as promises for continued employment---can be construed as creating an agreement.
  
  

Wrongful Dismissal

• Even at-will employees are protected from several categories of wrongful dismissal. An employer cannot, for instance, terminate an employee who refuses to perform an illegal act. Additionally, an employee cannot be fired for fulfilling his obligation to testify before a judge, even if that testimony is adverse to his employer. Retaliatory termination also is prohibited, and employers may not fire employees for notifying authorities about the employer's bad or illegal practices. This is referred to as a "whistleblower protection."
  
  

Anti-discrimination

• Workers are also protected from discriminatory firing by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (commonly referred to as Title VII). This statute protects employees from discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex and national origin. The law was expanded by the Americans with Disabilities Act, which protects disabled employees from termination, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, which protects workers older than 40 from discrimination based on their age. Several states also have enacted their own anti-discrimination laws, protecting workers on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status and parental status.