"From a normative perspective, that's fine. From a legal perspective, you can still be terminated, regardless if you mention the employer's name or not. You are an employee-at-will without a contract.
How would they have grounds to terminate if they can't prove who said what, about the company? People say bad things about their companies and employers all the time and honestly, you must know that employers do the same thing about some employees, too.
Whether someone is an "at-will" employee depends on the arrangement but you're the one who brought up collective bargaining agreements, which don't apply to an individual who's not part of a guild, union or other employee group.
"The collective bargaining agreement fits into it, because you mentioned that the employer wouldn't win a grievance if the employee filed one. Without a collective bargaining agreement, there is no grievance-arbitration procedure. There may be some internal grievance procedure that the organization's HR department has, but it's not legally binding like an arbitrator's decision would be for a CBA (aribtrator's decisions can only be very, very rarely overturned by the supreme court
)."
In light of some conversations I have had with the Wisconsin Department of Industry, Labor and Human Relations, even in an "at will" work state, it's possible to be wrongfully terminated but, IMO, if someone is just a bad employee, they deserve it. Personally, I think it's in the best interest of most employers to do as much as possible/practical to make good employees out of bad ones but sometimes, it's a lost cause. Some people just can't bring themselves to do the right thing and I have worked with several.
"I remember you said something about "wrongful termination" in a labor-related thread a week or so ago and I made a tongue in cheek joke about it. With all due respect, I think you are grossly misinformed if you think that an employer needs to have a "legitimate" cause in the United States to terminate an employee. Unless the employee has a contract (CBA or personal) or the employer has violated a statute, such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, NLRA, etc., then an employee can be terminated for good reason, bad reason, or no reason at all. There is a small amount of case law that deals with things like constructive discharge (i.e., creating such a hostile work environment that you quit) and getting fired for fulfilling your public duty (e.g., jury duty), but those cases are relatively rare."
I was fired a month before I turned 40, so the company could promote someone who's younger, made less money and was a friend of the corporate manager of the department I was in. The reason for termination was that my department didn't perform as well financially as desired, which was a load of crap- we exceeded the goals and, even though it was the newest department of that type in the company, we had the highest CSI rating in the company for seven consecutive fiscal quarters. The guy who replaced me ended up going to a new store to do the same thing because he didn't like the drive to MKE from Madison, WI. They hired someone new to replace him, rather than promote from within and they got burned, big time. They lost a few employees because of the outsider and he stole a lot from the company- they had him on video loading up his car trunk. The next guy did the same and none of the three could be considered to be responsible for better financial performance of that department.
When this happened, I called my cousin in CA for some info because she's a HR director and she told me that it would have been something to consider pursuing if I had already turned 40 but I'd had about enough of the place, anyway. I'm one of the rare ones I know of who works 'till the end as if they aren't planning to leave- They're still paying me, so I'm still working. A lot of others I worked with should have just left as soon as they gave their notice because they were about as useful as teats on a bull.
How would they have grounds to terminate if they can't prove who said what, about the company? People say bad things about their companies and employers all the time and honestly, you must know that employers do the same thing about some employees, too.
Whether someone is an "at-will" employee depends on the arrangement but you're the one who brought up collective bargaining agreements, which don't apply to an individual who's not part of a guild, union or other employee group.
"The collective bargaining agreement fits into it, because you mentioned that the employer wouldn't win a grievance if the employee filed one. Without a collective bargaining agreement, there is no grievance-arbitration procedure. There may be some internal grievance procedure that the organization's HR department has, but it's not legally binding like an arbitrator's decision would be for a CBA (aribtrator's decisions can only be very, very rarely overturned by the supreme court
)."In light of some conversations I have had with the Wisconsin Department of Industry, Labor and Human Relations, even in an "at will" work state, it's possible to be wrongfully terminated but, IMO, if someone is just a bad employee, they deserve it. Personally, I think it's in the best interest of most employers to do as much as possible/practical to make good employees out of bad ones but sometimes, it's a lost cause. Some people just can't bring themselves to do the right thing and I have worked with several.
"I remember you said something about "wrongful termination" in a labor-related thread a week or so ago and I made a tongue in cheek joke about it. With all due respect, I think you are grossly misinformed if you think that an employer needs to have a "legitimate" cause in the United States to terminate an employee. Unless the employee has a contract (CBA or personal) or the employer has violated a statute, such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, NLRA, etc., then an employee can be terminated for good reason, bad reason, or no reason at all. There is a small amount of case law that deals with things like constructive discharge (i.e., creating such a hostile work environment that you quit) and getting fired for fulfilling your public duty (e.g., jury duty), but those cases are relatively rare."
I was fired a month before I turned 40, so the company could promote someone who's younger, made less money and was a friend of the corporate manager of the department I was in. The reason for termination was that my department didn't perform as well financially as desired, which was a load of crap- we exceeded the goals and, even though it was the newest department of that type in the company, we had the highest CSI rating in the company for seven consecutive fiscal quarters. The guy who replaced me ended up going to a new store to do the same thing because he didn't like the drive to MKE from Madison, WI. They hired someone new to replace him, rather than promote from within and they got burned, big time. They lost a few employees because of the outsider and he stole a lot from the company- they had him on video loading up his car trunk. The next guy did the same and none of the three could be considered to be responsible for better financial performance of that department.
When this happened, I called my cousin in CA for some info because she's a HR director and she told me that it would have been something to consider pursuing if I had already turned 40 but I'd had about enough of the place, anyway. I'm one of the rare ones I know of who works 'till the end as if they aren't planning to leave- They're still paying me, so I'm still working. A lot of others I worked with should have just left as soon as they gave their notice because they were about as useful as teats on a bull.
People always contest me when I say that organizations often make completely irrational decisions, and this is a perfect example of that. 
