§ 1.2.4 EROSION OF THE AT-WILL RULE IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR.

• Jurisdiction: Arizona

§ 1.2.4 Erosion of the At-Will Rule in the Public Sector. Public employees were the first to be insulated against arbitrary dismissal under the at-will rule. Beginning with the Pendleton Act of 1883,²² Congress outlawed patronage to protect against the spoils of politics. In 1897, an Executive Order was enacted providing for removal only for "just cause . . . upon written charges . . . and an opportunity to make defense." The Lloyd-LaFollette Act, passed in 1913, provided due process rights for an employee.²³

Merit systems generally provided for internal grievance systems, i.e., merit systems boards, as the means of protecting and enforcing employee rights. Protection for federal public employees was extended in a series of cases limiting the manner in which a discharge occurred. Judicial review was used to determine if a reduction-in-force²⁴ was arbitrary or capricious or made in bad faith.²⁵ In 1959, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the right to be free from unreasonable interference in one's job came within the "liberty" and "property" concepts of the First Amendment.²⁶

Not all public employees were...