" I strongly support this effort. In Right to Work states no reason has to be given because it is employment at discretion of the employer. I have seen people who simply got on the wrong side of a manager and they were terminated simply because they could be so! I hope this gets the support and passes. "

" This should definately pass. I was fired from a job once by my manager with no explanation. Later, my supervisor called me and suggested I seek legal advice since there was no legitimate reason for my termination. "

" The business should not have to give a reason. If I want to get rid of you because you are an idiot who talks all day rather than working, why should I be subjected to you telling me why you are not? It is my business and I can employ who I want to.

Maybe this will actually make it harder to get a job because now to get rid of you I have to have a reason and explanation other than being able to say its just not working out.

Why do workers think that they are entitled to all these things. Be happy that you have a job and serve the company well. "

" I hope that this makes it out of committee so the real problem can be exposed. The right to work state. I've said this plenty of times that right to work also means fight to fire. This was originally aimed at the unions that had closed shops but has blow up in the faces of employees "

" Yes!! This bill definitely needs to be passed. I was fired from a dealer because I bought a car somewhere else. "

" This is crazy. So the Pizza Hut manager has to go find the 20-year-old loser who just quit showing up to his job before he can officially be fired? Sounds like the union lobbyists have too much time on their hands. Let me sprinkle a dose of reality on you, Mr. Harr. This is still a capitalist society. If I own the business and pay all your wages and benefits, you work for me. If you don't like it, go open your own buisness and assume all the risk. "

" This would be great!!!! Now I can sue every employer who lets someone go, regardless. If they were not absolutely, 100% accurate in every word they stated, or if I could get one employee/supervisor to differ in any iota from the language in writing, I could win damages for wrongful termination. Every person who lost a job would be a candidate because most people would screw this up. No employer is going to put: "Joe was terminated because he hasn't actually done a lick of work in the ten years he worked here." Or "Jane was drunk every Thursday after lunch." Even if they did, what if Joe filed a form once five years ago, or Jane got drunk once on Wednesday and not Thursday? Then we would have wrongful termination. This would be a full-employment act for lawyers and tie up our courts for years. GO GET EM MR. HAAR!!!! "

" Employers dont need a "legitimate reason" to terminate your employment. Nebraska is an at will state meaning you can be terminated at any time for any reason. Only recourse is if you can prove age, race or sexual discrimination in your firing. "

" Of course it would take a lawyer to corrupt something so basically decent as a job termination. Many jobs don't have corrective procedures and a paper trail of the employee not fulfilling the requirements, and so someone gets fired from job not knowing why. When applying for the next job the interviewer expects to know something about why you were released from your last job and if the best you can do is "I don't know" you sound arrogant, or worse. I'm all for this. Right to Work has been turned into "fire at will" (the other name for right to work states) and the only people that like it that way are the employers. If you are a responsible employer with a good reason to let someone go you have documentation anyway, so what's the problem? "

" I see both side of this issue. First, the employer is paying your wages, gave you your job, takes the risk of hiring you. They should have the right to fire you at any time they want. It is their business. The owners of businesses should be protected.

Second, it is not fair to let employees go with out a reason, even if the reason is to just to cut costs. If the owner didn't want them , why did they hire them. Plus, many employees work their rear's off for a business and have one disagreement with the owner and are let go, even though the disagreement did not affect their performance. The employees also need protected.

There is no easy answer on this one. "

" This is nonsense...If you don't know why you were fired, you need to pay more attention at work. "

" If you own a business and you want to fire someone because they are an idiot, as come on said, then all this requires is you tell them I am firing you because you are an idiot. If you want to fire them that badly then go ahead, you just have to tell them to their face that is why they are being let go. Maybe they will not be such idiots in the future if they actually are told that is why they are fired. "

" bout time... what the old saying "Good Help is hard to find", well let me tell you that "A good employer is even harder to find." I also got fired from my job in which special treatment of employees are giving to some and not to everyone. Double standards? You betcha! No one stood up for me except for me. "

" If I am correct Nebraska is a Work at Will state. It means that employees do not have to give notice to quit and employers do not have to give notice to terminate nor give a reason as long is they are not discriminating. If I am wrong please let me know.

Keep it the way it is. I would have to assume that 99% of people that were terminated know why it happened even if the employer did not tell them. "

" All the people that have ever gotten fired will be for this. "

" This needs to be passed! I have seen GREAT nurses come from out of state to Bryan and get let go because our manager is threatened by their skills or advanced degree/training. Best OB nurse I ever saw had this happen to her for no reason, very sad! They told us she quit! "

" I think that this legislation can be promising however I think it should depend on the position of work and longevity of time served. As a business owner, I don't think I should have to give a reason for why it didn't work after 2 weeks. However, after 2 years, I think that both parties deserve feedback. "

" As an employer I have never fired someone with out giving them a reason. and I find it hard to believe that anyone would do so whether it's the employee spending all day on the internet, not showing up for work, spending the whole day talking to their co-workers and not getting a lick of work done, ticking off customers.

The only people I've ever met who said they were fired without good reason are the people that were either too stupid or embarrased to admit the real reason they were fired. I fired a girl once for constant absenteeism, internet useage, and overall poor job performance. We'd had multiple discussions including verbal and written warnings and the behavior never changed. She kept coming in late and calling in, kept farting off durring work hours and playing around on the internet when she should have been working. Then when I finally fired her she had the audacity to argue with me and say that I hadn't given her proper time to fix her behavior. Afterwords I heard that she'd told some of the people that were still working there that the only reason she was fired was because I was mean and didn't like her. One of the guys called her out on it and they never heard from her again. "

" I have owned several businesses over the last 35 years and have employed as many as 2500 employees. As a prudent manager, and as somebody who was interested in making my businesses work, I took a detailed interest in what it took to make my business successful each and every day. Therefore I had performance standards for each employee and I took the time to ensure that they either I or my managers reviewed the performance with employees on a timely basis. That way each employee knew exactly where they stood in terms of their performance. I did not bend the rules for anybody. You either performed or you were gone. I fired my son-in-law based on the lack of performance. I don't think now nor did I think then that it was a burden for me. I cared for the employees and if they did not care to perform then they knew exactly what was coming. No games, no manager got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning or anything. If that is asking too much then we are all in a lot of trouble as most terminations they are done with no explanation could easily have been done with explanation if the manager had cared enough to take the time to document what was going on. "

" I support this effort. I to this day, after being employee of the year and numerous awards, do not know why I lost my job with Gallup. Upon my dismissal she said I could now spend more time with my teenage daughter. After I pointed out that I'm the last person she wanted to spend her time with I asked how on earth was I supposed to feed her? "

" Some of you just don't understand. Nebraska is an at will State correct. This bill is trying to correct some of the abuses in the at will philosophy of employers. Nebraska should not be an at will State. The only reason Nebraska was an at will State is because farming was the main source of employment when this originated and now, low and behold, farming is no longer the main source of employment. Employers should have good reason to fire someone, and employers should not hire someone just to fill a spot, they should have good reason to hire someone as well, and the employer should tell the employee that when they hire them and then there would not be this big deal about letting people go for no reason.
If employers don't want employees then they should sell their business to someone who does. Grow up people "

" Where's my lawsuit? Oh wait, Nebraska allows that type of discrimination. "

" Another tact would be to expand the definition of discrimination. Yes, you should still be protected if you were fired due to race,religion,age, and the usual. But what about state government workers who are fired for political affiliation? Or fired because you are poor, and don't have the same "cultural niceties" as your colleagues?

I think a democracy has to be able to have state workers who can be protected by the first ammendment and keep a state job even if they don't agree with the Governor du jour, as long as the workers continue to competently perform what the statutes tell them to do.

I am a little disgusted by the state exploiting the "right to work law" and ruining people's lives simply because they can get away with it. The state should be setting a positive example, not ruining people's reputations and sending them to the ranks of welfare unscathed for their political beliefs. This type of discrimination costs the taxpayer a lot of money. The state needs to be called on it. Pass the law. Expand the law. "

" FYI - There is a difference between "Right to Work" and "Employment at Will".

Right to work means that the employee can work in a union environment without being required to join the union, although she/he will be subject to the terms of the contract.

Employment at will means the employee has the right to quit at any time for any reason, and the employer has the right to terminate employment at any time for any reason, so long as that reason is not otherwise prohibited.

Nebraska currently has both, as it should be. "

" It's about time! "

" Because Nebraska unemployment insurance docks 13 weeks of benefits to people fired for proper cause, I think this law would be great. I was once fired -- no explanation whatsover -- and when I went to apply for unemployment, the 20-something at the Dept. of Labor told me I would be docked automatically because, she said, NO ONE is ever fired without just cause. She was so young, and even more naive. People are fired for all kinds of reasons unrelated to performance. I successfully fought for full benefits, and would encourage anyone else who is fired for a bad cause, or no cause at all, to likewise fight on. An employer has a right to fire anyone he/she likes, but no one should have to suffer economically because, for example, the boss's wife doesn't want him working with a cute blonde. "

" To those who think this law is unneccessary, I'd like to point out that an employer with integrity probably does fire people for legitimate reasons, but there are cases where people are let go unfairly by managers/directors who feel threatened by the employee on the basis of intelligence, popularity with other workers, job knowledge or some other thing like a personality conflict. As it is right now, these micro managers can fire a person without providing a good reason. The fired person can go after the employer with a lawyer if they have a good case, but, in most cases, you just can't afford to do this.

This is a good law to have; I'd like to see it move forward. "

" If changes are made that require employers to disclose the reason employees are terminated, employers should be given the freedom to share that information on reference checks rather than have to say "our policy prevents us from sharing that information" for fear of lawsuits. Full disclosure should be a two way street. You get fired because you don't show up for work, you should be told and perspective employers should be told that as well. "

" wow. I did not realize what a socialist place Nebraska has become. Workers do not OWN jobs and have no RIGHT to work. If an employer wants to make room for his uncle and has to fire someone that is legal, moral, and economical because the employer OWNS the job. That is the essence of ownership; the ability to determine who gets the use of property. An owner has that power. If employees wish to own their jobs then go out and create one for yourself. Otherwise, enough with the socialist/communistic whining, haven't you done enough to damage our economy? "

" You can not argue firing for discrimination in this state. It will never fly because even the NEOC discriminates. AND....considering much discrimination, age, race, sex, is indirect and covert in Nebraska there is not a darn thing one can do. "

" Very bad idea. It will make it much harder for people with a weak resume or spotty work history to get hired. No sense taking a chance on some one if they don't have a solid history. You could expect much tigher background checks as well. When I look back on mistakes I've made in business they are mostly mistakes in hiring. Lacking an at-will law I would error on the side of caution for sure. "

" Ok, so now that everyone wrote it and said Nebraska is an At Will state, what we are trying to do is change that. We don't want to be an At Will state. The people who are against this are the managers. "

" I am all for non-productive workers, those with bad attitudes, those showing dishonesty, etc. being fired, because this is warranted. While I, myself, have never been fired from a job in my nearly 40 years in the workforce, I know of some that have, and were given either false reasons or no reasons because 1. they were getting older, and the company didn't want group med insurance rates to go up. 2. a relative of the boss moved into the area and wanted that job. 3. A spouse was critically ill and the employee asked for time off beyond vacation days accumulated (the spouse died of cancer the day after the employee was let go), or 4. The employee had been with the company over 30 years and was making much more than an entry level worker would. So while such a law is needed, employers can usually work their way around the real reason, if it suits their purpose. I don't know what could be done about that. They would, however, need to be very careful what they said, so they would not be sued. "

" i work for walmart see it all the time needs to be fixed "

" I'm ok with this if there is a clause in the law that requires fired employees to dislose why they were fired on future job applications. That way bosses can weed out the bad employees before they even get hired. "

" How often do people get fired without cause? Who walks up to someone and justs fire somebody for no reason? There is always a reason. And most honest people are told or know the reasons, whether they choose to admit it or not. Even layoffs have a reason behind them, even if it simply luck of the draw.

This is just going to add to the additional strain it puts on companies to document everything that an employee does, before they can let them go. It is absurd. As other have suggested, this will open up can of legal worms in ever more litigious society.

This only makes it harder for supervisors and managers to remove the bad apples from the group. Companies that I have worked, bend over backwards for bad employees all the time, for fear they could be sued. While the good producers suffer from the stress, anxiety, extra burden, and lowered morale of having to deal with them on a daily basis. It makes it harder for good employees to stay at places they would otherwise love to work.

This bill is another example of good intentions gone haywire. Another example of where goverment needs to worry about governance, not big brother oversight. Government can't often get past the bureaucracies itself creates to work efficiently. Stop trying to make private practive function the same way. It only drives up expense, lowers productivity, and reduces performance. "

" I think that if a company gives performance reviews and they should, most fired employees would know the reason why. "

" So is Sen Haar going to force employees to tell their employer why they are quitting? I've been in business for 18 years and have noticed in the last 5 years or so that A LOT of people, particularly young people, will quit by just not showing up for work anymore. If you try to call them, they don't answer their phone and don't return your call. They just abandon their job with no notice and no explanation.

If an employee has no obligation to tell you that they are leaving and why, an employer should have no obligation to tell them why they are being let go.

That said, I have always told employees why they are being let go. It's usually for performance issues of which they had previously been warned on several occasions. "

" After 7 years, and it was a random day the boss said don't need you anymore. Ok, didn't tell me anything - and has followed up by giving horrible job reviews that include outright lies that my next employer clearly saw thru - such as I came to work drunk almost every day, and repeatedly smoked pot on the job. Well, then why did you keep me around for 7 years? But, yup, it's fine for others to sit on their rears and do homework for something totally unrelated and get no work done - and if they don't have homework, to sit and gossip and do no work.

The real reason is that she thinks I was the employee to call OSHA on the business. Well, the call needed to be made, and I know who did call - but it wasn't me. But it's really kind of icky to tell people that you fired someone for reporting an OSHA violation....

And the manager wonders why I don't refer to that business anymore - gee, maybe? "

" What possible purpose does this proposed law serve?

Does Senator Haar expect that the employee will be able to argue their way out of the firing? Does he expect the employer to give some illegal reason for the firing and thus give the employee the option of suing? If the employee doesn’t know why they are being fired, their lack of awareness might very well be the reason. "

" Of all the wasted time they have debated about seat belts, finally something that makes sense. This state has business owners who think they can do whatever they want to their employees. Companies fire people for devious reasons because they want to hire someone else. Those against this bill are saying we own employees and can buy and sell them at will. I have seen employees fired to make room for the boss's daughter. I have seen employees fired for having to take time off for a sick child. I have seen employees fired for complaining to one manager that the other manager was having affairs with employees. So when people want to complain that they can't fire employees, I think they just don't have a good reason yet. "

" Some of the posters here need to get their head around the whole concept of "Business Owner". My business is as much my property as your home is your property. Should the law require you to give someone a reason, and listen to their rebuttal, when you want them to leave your home? While this might be somewhat reasonable in large businesses ruled by corporate bureaucrats it certainly has no place in the small business community. "

" if it's just not working out, they talk all day, whatever. be adult enough to tell them that when you fire them. i know, being grown up is difficult sometimes. "

" I'm the 7 year person who got fired. It was a small business that I was fired from. I'm now in a large business setting, where they already have to give you a reason for termination. But here I also get biannual performance updates, so I know what's going bad.

Requiring CORRECT information on why you terminate someone's employment just means you have to find a better reason that thinking I called OSHA, or put that in writing. Doesn't open you up to a lawsuit anymore than random termination, followed by slander does. "

" How does it hurt a small business to say why you are firing someone? It seems it'd cover your butt more. Someone is a bad employee, there must be some reason other than "I don't like you." If the only reason for being fired is because I disagree with your morals, but I'm not the one forcing the issue on the job - perhaps you need to be honest not with me, but with yourself. "

" Someone commented that business owners fire someone because they want to hire someone else...so what? Why on earth should a business OWNER be forced to employ a mediocre stick in the mud when they could hire someone who will do a better job? How is a business owner making decisions "unfair"? Does an employer have to have a good or fair reason for firing the employee? What happens if the employee doesn't like the reason they were fired? Will we have a "Hugs and Kisses Fairness Committee" to decide whether the business owner should be allowed to hire someone else or be required to continue to employ someone against their will? Do you have to be able to prove the reason you fired the person? What if you think the employee is stealing but can't prove it? What if someone is simply annoying? If I have built my business from the ground up, I resent the state telling me I have work side by side an employee who drives me nuts simply because I have to be "fair." As for Nina's friends, those fired for "old age" have recourse under federal discrimination laws, the worker with the dying spouse probably has recourse under FMLA depending on the size of the company, and as for the employer's relative, I'll bet the employer would have made up a better reason if that was the true reason for the person being fired. "

" I was fired from a job several years ago. I thought I was doing fine--showed up for work when I was scheduled (had rotating days), seemed to get along fine with coworkers/supervisors (didn't pick up any negative vibes), customers seemed to be pleased (no complaints that I knew of), etc. It was a job that I really wanted. After a couple of months, I was pulled into my main supervisor's office. Her boss was also there & they proceeded to terminate me. I don't have a clue why & I wish I knew. If I knew what was wrong, then maybe I could've corrected it while still employed there or could've have used the criticism to improve myself at my next job. I see more benefits to knowing why a person is terminated than negatives. "

" Hey, sports fans, I'm all for this. After all, Bill Callahan was never given an explanation of why he was so rudely booted just as he was on the cusp of gridiron glory and immortality in HuskerLand. "

" I've got no problem with this. All this does is put in writing why someone was fired. Think of it this way, if someone was discriminated against and hence fired, it gives a foundation with which to start legal action.

Businesses still have the right to fire at any time for any reason so it doesn't affect them unless they are doing something wrong. "

" Awsome....i like it. i hope it passes. Obviously there is a reason if someone is fired or let go. I would see no reason in why this couldn't be said, unless someone is scared of wrongful termination. "

" I have been fired from jobs as I was nearing elligibility for benefits and vacations. Three or four employers owe me about 9 weeks vacation and paid sick days.I'm mid-40's and can't take this crap anymore. "