The class began with a discussion of at-will employment being the foundation principle of the employment relationship

An employer can protect himself from lawsuits by taking recourse to the following proactive actions.

(1) The organizational policy document should always be kept updated with the latest changes in rules & regulations. The corporate internal website should be kept updated as well. This way, an employee cannot claim in the lawsuit that they were kept uninformed about policy changes that adversely affected them.

(2) Employees should be provided with regular periodical training about the organization's code of conduct and business policy. The training should be mandatorily reinforced.

(3) Discriminatory employment practices like gender discrimination, racial discrimination, etc. should not be resorted to, and strong corporate stance & policy against such practices should be stated in the rule-book/website as well as enforced.

(4) Employers must ensure that their managers do not make performance appraisals based on prejudices and biases.

(5) Proper and active Grievance Committees should be set up to handle employee grievances properly.

(6) Finally, there should be an open-door communication policy to ensure full transparency and fairness in the interaction between employees and managers.