When a Savvy Miss member asked the following question, we turned to Johnny Taylor for his expert opinion.

A friend recently told her boss that she was quitting and gave him the courtesy of two weeks notice. Two days later, she returned from a lunch break to find that her computer was shut off and that her last paycheck was on her desk. She was told to leave right then and there. Is an employer required to provide an explanation when they kick someone out of the company like this? Is this legal? And would the situation allow her to receive unemployment?

Unfortunately, there’s not much advice I can give you in this situation. Yes, it is legal for an employer to end employment at any point. There may be three or four states that don’t follow the “employment at will” (meaning you can go, or be let go, at any time) doctrine, so it’s a state specific answer; but for the most part, an employer has the right to terminate an employee at any time, for any non-illegal reason, with or without cause.

As to the issue of unemployment benefits, it is again a state specific answer. But generally, since the employee had already given notice, the chances are no, she will not get unemployment. It’s not that she’s not entitled to apply for it, it’s just unlikely that she’ll get unemployment because she was in the process of leaving. She gave two weeks and the employer gave her a check, so there was no loss.

So to sum it up: At any point an employer can come in and say, “You’re gone!” and as long as it’s not because of your race, your sex, your age, your religion, your disability—anything discriminatory—there’s not a lot of recourse. And, unfortunately, that’s it.

Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., JD, SPHR, is Chairman of the Society for Human Resource Management and Senior Vice President of Human Resources for IAC/InterActiveCorp, the parent company to companies like Ticketmaster.com, LendingTree.com, AskJeeves and Home Shopping Network. Photo © Carsten Reisinger/Fotolia