CMU’s at-will employment works for both sides

CMU employs nearly 4,000 students.

For the majority of those students, employment is based on an
at-will agreement, meaning employment is at the will of both employees
and employers and may be terminated at any time for any reason not
specifically prohibited by law.

“If you ask some people what the definition of at-will employment
is, they’ll say that the employer can fire the employee at anytime they
want,” said Jon Goodwin, manager of Student Employment Services. “It’s
a little more complicated than that and that’s what I want to
emphasize.”

Grand Rapids junior Dan Cheevers has been working one semester at
the Charles V. Park Library and said he doesn’t remember if he was told
about campus jobs being at-will.

“If I was told, it wasn’t in those words (at-will),” Cheevers said.
“‘You can quit anytime or we can fire you anytime,’ that’s what my past
employers have said.”

All jobs on campus are at-will, except for those of resident
assistants.

“I think it works wonderfully because it allows students a certain
freedom to move to another job if they feel that that other job would
be a better fit for them and it allows departments a certain freedom to
get the right person for the job that they have,” Goodwin said.

At-will employment does not justify everything, though.

“I don’t want to lead people to believe they can behave a certain
way,” Goodwin said. “Whether it’s employers or students.”

Cheevers said the convenience of having an on-campus job is more
important than being an at-will employee.

He said if he was fired for no reason, he would be puzzled.

Students have the right to talk to Goodwin about their terminations,
but he said they should try and work them out with their departments
first.

“There is not a step one, step two, step three,” he said. “They come
to me and we try and make sure both sides have communicated well with
each other and hopefully come to a positive resolution of the
situation.”

An intervention like this doesn’t happen often, Goodwin said.

“We’re talking about 10 situations in the six years I’ve been here,”
he said. “Less than half the time the student is reinstated.”