Pennsylvania is an at-will employment state, which means that an employer can terminate the employment of an employee for any or no reason, so long as it is not an illegal reason. The at-will employment doctrine allows either the employer or the employee to terminate the relationship without prior notice and without a showing of cause.
Employment cannot be terminated or modified because of an employee’s race, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, age or disability.
The at-will employment doctrine is also limited by public policy considerations. For example, employment may not be terminated where the employee has properly reported employer misconduct; this is often referred to as the “whistleblower” scenario.
Given our litigious society, any decision to terminate employment must be considered carefully.
— Kevin Palmer