Unjust Dismissal and the Contingent Worker: Restructuring Doctrine for the Restructured Employee

American workers in the 1990s are finding that the employment landscape has changed dramatically. Expectations that competence and hard work lead to job security have eroded as a result of widespread labor force contractions, often involving financially healthy companies eager to improve their profit margins. The process has been given such labels as downsizing, right-sizing, re-engineering, and corporate restructuring, and has had an impact on every segment of the workforce. Managers and executives, in particular, now find that they are just as likely as blue collar factory workers to be the targets of massive staff reductions.

Women and members of minority groups have also been victims of this process, especially because of their relatively recent entrance into higher-level positions in corporate governance.