Long Beach, CA asked in Employment Law for Florida

Q: Employees of a private university in Florida are REQUIRED to give at least one month's notice if they take another job.

This refers to a private university with an enrollment of >15,000 students. Employees must give at least a full month's notice if they decide to leave and take a job somewhere else, instead of the traditional 2 weeks' notice. Employees who give 2 weeks' notice instead of a month get flagged in the school's HR systems as "Not eligible for rehire". So, no matter how well-qualified a person is, if they gave 2 weeks' notice instead of a month, they will never be allowed to come back to work there.

How could this possibly be legal?

Related Topics:
1 Lawyer Answer
Bruce Alexander Minnick
Bruce Alexander Minnick
Answered
  • Tallahassee, FL
  • Licensed in Florida

A: (Please remember this advice and pass it along to all your friends):

1. Florida is an “at will” state, which means PRIVATE employers are free to recruit, hire, transfer, promote, demote, suspend, reinstate, fire--and then rehire--employees for any reason at any time, i.e., “at will.” The only thing employers cannot do is make any employment decisions based solely upon the employee’s race, gender, age, handicap, disability, religion, national origin or marital status.

2. Many employers have lawful hiring classification policies that include "not eligible for rehire" for various reasons. As long as they apply that policy to all resigning employees there is nothing wrong with it.

3. Even if challenged, the private university could argue successfully that the policy is intended to reward employees who help the university locate suitable replacements by giving the university a notice longer than two weeks.

Terrence H Thorgaard agrees with this answer

Justia Ask a Lawyer is a forum for consumers to get answers to basic legal questions. Any information sent through Justia Ask a Lawyer is not secure and is done so on a non-confidential basis only.

The use of this website to ask questions or receive answers does not create an attorney–client relationship between you and Justia, or between you and any attorney who receives your information or responds to your questions, nor is it intended to create such a relationship. Additionally, no responses on this forum constitute legal advice, which must be tailored to the specific circumstances of each case. You should not act upon information provided in Justia Ask a Lawyer without seeking professional counsel from an attorney admitted or authorized to practice in your jurisdiction. Justia assumes no responsibility to any person who relies on information contained on or received through this site and disclaims all liability in respect to such information.

Justia cannot guarantee that the information on this website (including any legal information provided by an attorney through this service) is accurate, complete, or up-to-date. While we intend to make every attempt to keep the information on this site current, the owners of and contributors to this site make no claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of the information contained in or linked to from this site.