In the absence of an employment contract, when may an employee expect to only be terminated for cause?

In the absence of an employment contract, employees typically do not have an expectation of being terminated only for cause due to the principle of at-will employment, which allows employers to terminate employees for any reason that is not illegal.

When considering the answer provided, it is clear that none of the scenarios outlined justify a presumption of termination only for cause. For example, being part of a protected class does not inherently provide an employee with job security against unjust termination. Similarly, a progressive discipline policy might outline a process for disciplinary actions, but if the policies are not clearly defined as binding, it may not prevent termination without cause. Additionally, the investigation of behavior by management is procedural and does not guarantee that termination decisions will be based solely on valid reasons.

Thus, in the absence of an explicit employment agreement stating otherwise, employees generally cannot assume they will be terminated only for just cause; hence, the most accurate conclusion is that none of the options listed lead to that expectation.