One of the fundamental tenets of employment law is that, unless the parties have negotiated and signed a contract to the contrary, all employment is “at-will”: Employers can fire workers for any or no reason. According to California Labor Code section 2922, “An employment, having no specified term, may be terminated at the will of either party on notice to the other.”

But in the worker-friendly Golden State, no business would even think about firing employees without good—and well-documented—reasons. The state’s at-will fabric has, over the past decade, become riddled with holes. Today, it barely holds together—and the holes will soon be widening. In the mediation process, employers can no longer simply rely on the at-will doctrine.