In the case of Elaine, she was fired without notice or reason for termination. Elaine had been promised career opportunities and given a salary, but no contract was signed. Elaine's employer hired a new person for Elaine's position who had less education and experience. Elaine believes she was fired unfairly and is suing to get her job back. I believe Elaine may have a strong case because of the person who was hired for her position.
Elaine was fired without good reason or notice. The employer then replaced Elaine with a male employee with less job experience and less education. Elaine has a good chance of getting her job back by suing her employer for sex descrimination. Her successor was inferior to Elaine in a few key areas and that may prove the employer fired her due to descrimination.
There are some exceptions where employees cannot be fired even if they are at-will employees. One exception is a statutory exception. A statutory exception says an employer can't fire an employee that is a member of a labor union if their firing is in violation of labor laws or collective bargaining agreements. Another exception is an implied-in-fact contract. An implied-in-fact says that if the company states in a handbook, on a bulletin board or other means that an employee cannot be fired if they perform their job properly. A public policy exception states that an employee cannot be fired if it violates public policy. An employee cannot be fired for serving in jury duty, or refusing to break a law. Another exception is a tort exception. A tort exception says an employee can sue an employer