At-Will Employment in New York and Its Limits

New York is an at-will employment state. Under New York State common law, where a job has no fixed term it is presumed to be a hiring at will, which either the employer or the employee may end at any time, for any reason or for no reason.⁠^[1] The rule has limits: an employer's right to terminate does not extend to a constitutionally impermissible purpose, a reason a statute prohibits, or a termination that breaks an express limitation in the individual contract of employment.⁠^[3]

That is why "wrongful termination" in New York does not mean an unfair or undeserved firing. It means a firing for a reason that one of those limits forbids.⁠^[2][3] This page explains the rule and then sets out the limits, layer by layer: federal law, New York State law and New York City law.

What does "at will" mean in New York?

The modern statement of the rule comes from the New York Court of Appeals, the State's highest court, in Murphy v. American Home Products Corp. (1983). The court called it a long-settled rule that employment for an indefinite term is presumed to be a hiring at will that may be freely terminated by either party at any time for any reason or even for no reason.⁠^[1]

Four years later, in Sabetay v. Sterling Drug, Inc. (1987), the Court of Appeals reaffirmed that, without an agreement fixing the length of employment, the relationship is presumed to be at will.⁠^[9] The employee, who said he was fired for refusing to take part in illegal activity and for blowing the whistle, lost his breach-of-contract claims because he showed no express agreement limiting the employer's right to fire.⁠^[9]

The New York State Department of Labor describes the rule to the public in the same terms. It says that, without a contract restricting termination, an employer generally has the right to discharge an employee at any time for any reason or no reason, provided it is not an act of illegal retaliation or discrimination, and that an employee also has the right to leave a job at any time without explaining the decision.⁠^[10]

Is "wrongful termination" a legal claim in New York?

Not as a general claim. In Murphy, the Court of Appeals refused to recognize tort liability for what it called abusive or wrongful discharge, and said that recognition of such a claim should await legislative action.⁠^[2] Being fired unfairly is therefore not, by itself, a legal claim under New York State common law.⁠^[2]

What exists instead is a set of specific limits. Murphy listed them: absent a constitutionally impermissible purpose, a statutory proscription, or an express limitation in the individual contract of employment, the employer's right to terminate an at-will employee "remains unimpaired."⁠^[3] A person who believes a firing was unlawful has to fit it within one of those three categories.

Which statutes limit an at-will firing?

The statutory limits come from three layers of law: federal, New York State and New York City. The guide to the three layers of workplace law explains how they fit together.

Discrimination

Layer	What the statute forbids	Which employers
Federal: Title VII	Firing, refusing to hire or otherwise discriminating against an individual because of race, color, religion, sex or national origin⁠[4]	Employers with 15 or more employees for each working day in each of 20 or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year⁠[11]
New York State: Human Rights Law (NYSHRL)	Refusing to hire, discharging, or discriminating in compensation or in terms, conditions or privileges of employment because of a protected characteristic⁠[5]	All employers within the state; the definition has no minimum number of employees⁠[12]
New York City: Human Rights Law (NYCHRL)	Employment discrimination because of an actual or perceived characteristic on the City's list, which includes age, race, creed, color, national origin, gender, disability, caregiver status, height and weight⁠[6]	For most employment provisions, not an employer that had fewer than four persons in its employ at all times during the period the Code defines; a claim of gender-based harassment can be brought against any employer in the city⁠[13][14]

The lists of protected characteristics differ by layer; the guide to protected characteristics compares them.

Retaliation for opposing discrimination

Each layer also bars retaliation. Federal Title VII makes it unlawful to discriminate against an employee or applicant because the person opposed a practice Title VII forbids or took part in a Title VII proceeding.⁠^[15] The New York State Human Rights Law bars retaliation against any person who opposed a forbidden practice, filed a complaint, testified or assisted in a proceeding, or requested a reasonable accommodation.⁠^[16] The New York City Human Rights Law bars retaliation "in any manner" for a similar list of activities.⁠^[17] See what workplace retaliation is.

Whistleblowing and Labor Law complaints

• New York State, Labor Law § 740. An employer may not retaliate because an employee discloses or threatens to disclose, to a supervisor or a public body, an employer activity, policy or practice that the employee reasonably believes violates a law, rule or regulation, or reasonably believes poses a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety.⁠^[7] The statute applies to any employer with one or more employees.⁠^[18] Details are in the guide to Labor Law § 740.
• New York State, Labor Law § 215. No employer may discharge, threaten, penalize or otherwise retaliate against an employee because the employee complained about conduct the employee reasonably and in good faith believes violates the Labor Law.⁠^[8] This section does not apply to employees of the State or its municipal subdivisions.⁠^[19]
• New York State, Civil Service Law § 75-b. A public employer may not dismiss or take other adverse personnel action against a public employee for disclosing to a governmental body information about a violation that creates a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety, or what the employee reasonably believes is an improper governmental action.⁠^[20]
• Federal, National Labor Relations Act. Employees have the right to engage in concerted activities for mutual aid or protection, and it is an unfair labor practice for an employer to interfere with, restrain or coerce employees in that right.⁠^[21]

Protected leave and absences

• Federal, Family and Medical Leave Act. It is unlawful for an employer to interfere with, restrain or deny the exercise of FMLA rights, or to discharge a person for opposing a practice the FMLA makes unlawful.⁠^[22]
• New York State, Workers' Compensation Law § 120. An employer may not discharge or otherwise discriminate against an employee because the employee claimed or attempted to claim workers' compensation.⁠^[23] The same section applies to Paid Family Leave.⁠^[24]
• New York State, legally protected absences. Labor Law § 215 also bars retaliation against an employee for using any legally protected absence under federal, local or state law, a protection added by a 2022 amendment.⁠^[25]
• New York State, jury service and court attendance. An employee summoned as a juror who notifies the employer before the term of service begins may not be discharged or penalized for the absence.⁠^[26] A crime victim or subpoenaed witness in a criminal proceeding who notifies the employer before the day of attendance has a similar protection.⁠^[27]

The guide on retaliation for taking leave or filing a workers' compensation claim covers these in more depth.

Off-duty conduct and personal decisions

Under New York State Labor Law § 201-d, unless another law provides otherwise, an employer may not fire or otherwise discriminate against an individual because of legal political activities outside working hours, legal use of consumable products before or after work hours and off the premises, legal recreational activities outside work hours, or union membership.⁠^[28] The section does not protect activity that creates a material conflict of interest related to the employer's trade secrets, proprietary information or other proprietary or business interest.⁠^[29] See the guide to Labor Law § 201-d.

Can a contract limit the employer's right to fire?

Yes, if the limit is express. The third category in Murphy is "an express limitation in the individual contract of employment."⁠^[3] Sabetay applied that requirement: the employee lost because he had not demonstrated a limitation by express agreement on the employer's right to terminate at will.⁠^[9]

An agreement fixing the length of the job also takes it outside the presumption, because the presumption applies only where there is no agreement establishing a fixed duration.⁠^[9]

Why is an unfair firing not automatically an illegal one?

Because the statutes are tied to specific reasons. The U.S. Supreme Court has said that Title VII does not prohibit all verbal or physical harassment at work; the employee must prove discrimination because of a protected class.⁠^[30] Courts applying the New York City Human Rights Law have said that it is not a general civility code either, and that a boss who is merely overbearing or obnoxious to everyone does not violate it.⁠^[31]

The same idea runs through retaliation law. Under federal law in the Second Circuit, the employer must have understood, or reasonably could have understood, that the employee's complaint was directed at conduct Title VII prohibits.⁠^[32] A complaint about favoritism, workload or a difficult manager that says nothing about a protected characteristic may not meet that federal test. The guide unfair or illegal? works through examples.

Does an employer have to give notice, a reason or severance?

At-will employment means no reason has to exist, and the State Department of Labor's description of the rule refers to discharge "for any, or no, reason."⁠^[10] A few New York State rules still apply at the moment a job ends:

• Every employer must notify a terminated employee in writing of the exact date of termination and the exact date that employee benefits connected with the termination are canceled, no more than five working days after the termination date.⁠^[33]
• Every employer liable for unemployment contributions must tell each employee in writing, at the time of a separation, of the right to file for unemployment benefits.⁠^[34]
• The State Department of Labor states that, if there was no written or oral policy or agreement, the New York State Labor Law does not require an employer to provide severance pay.⁠^[35]

See final pay, health insurance and notices when a job ends.

What do people commonly get wrong?

• "If I quit, none of this applies." Under federal law a resignation is treated as a discharge when working conditions became so intolerable that a reasonable person in the employee's position would have felt compelled to resign.⁠^[36] See constructive discharge.
• "Every claim has the same deadline." A court action under the New York State Human Rights Law has three years, a Labor Law § 740 action has two, and a federal Title VII charge is due at the EEOC within 300 days in New York.⁠^[37][38][39] The retaliation deadlines table and the master deadlines table list them.