Colorado follows the law that a lot of states do in that it’s presumed when you have an employment relationship, that it is at-will, which means you don’t have any guarantee that you’re going to be employed with that company or that employer for any set period of time or for any set salary or under any set conditions. There is a presumption in Colorado of at-will employment, which means that you, or the employer, can terminate the employment relationship for no reason, or any reason, at any time, and that there is no promise or guarantee that you’ll have employment for a specified period of time. What that doesn’t mean, however, is that an employer can terminate you for a reason which violates state or federal law. There’s another issue which is out there for any time you get into an employment relationship is, are you going to actually have a contract for employment versus be subject to an at-will employment relationship.
There’s a lot of confusion out there with people who believe that they are entitled to be employed by their company for a specified period of time when it’s very likely that the documents, including the employment manual or offer letters that were sent to them, say that they have … they’re subject to at-will employment, which means they don’t have any expectation that they’re going to be employed for any specified period of time. There’s also a lot of misunderstanding out there about why employers can discipline or terminate employees. Frankly put, an employer can terminate you for a stupid reason, for an arbitrary reason, for a reason which you disagree with. An employer can also treat you- You may think poorly, within the context of the employment relationship and that doesn’t necessarily give rise to a claim of employment discrimination.
