Firing At-Will Employees: Legal Limitations

If you go to work for someone else, the odds are great that you are an employee at will.  That’s the basic rule in North Carolina, as it is almost everywhere in the United States.  In North Carolina, it applies whether you go to work for an individual or a private business or a unit of government.

So what?  What does it mean to be an employee at will?  It means that you can be fired at any time, for any reason or no reason, with notice or without notice.  It means, as a legal matter, that your job hangs by the barest thread, subject to being snipped at any moment, with no recourse.  It means, as a practical matter, that the employer holds all the cards in the employment arrangement.

But there is one more element to the law of employment at will:  yes, it’s true that an at-will employee may be fired for any reason or no reason.  But even an employee at will may not be fired for an unlawful reason.  The law puts in place some protections against dismissal even for at-will employees.

This blog post lists the unlawful reasons.  If an employer, private or governmental, fires an employee for any reason not listed here, the law of employment at will prevails, and the employee is out of luck.  But if one of these reasons is behind the dismissal, the employer has acted unlawfully and the employee may have legal protection. Read more »

Grandfather Mountain: Educational or Recreational?

[UPDATE: In August 2014 the N.C. Court of Appeals reversed the PTC decision and found in favor of the county. For many of the reasons I discuss below, the Court of Appeals held that the Grandfather Mountain property does not qualify for a property tax exemption.  The Court of Appeals decision is available here.]

Grandfather Mountain has long been one of the most popular destinations in the North Carolina high country.  Thanks to a recent Property Tax Commission decision, the iconic mountain may become just as famous among local tax officials as it already is among tourists.

The key question in the Grandfather Mountain case is easy to state but tough to answer: when it comes to property tax exemptions, where is the line between education and recreation?  Educational property may be exempt. Recreational property is not.  Is a nature hike more educational or recreational? At stake are millions of dollars in local property tax revenue across North Carolina. Read more »

New Rural Economic Development Division and Other 2013 North Carolina Legislation

The North Carolina General Assembly wrapped up the 2013 session after approving several pieces of legislation related to community economic development (CED). This post summarizes some of the major legislation of interest to public officials, such as progress toward a statewide public-private partnership for economic development, the establishment of a Rural Economic Development Division at the NC Department of Commerce, unprecedented Community Development Block Grant allocations, preservation of certain economic development incentive programs, and more.

Public-Private Partnership for Economic Development

In the Appropriations Act of 2013, the Secretary of the Department of Commerce was granted flexibility to reorganize the department and to establish a public-private partnership for economic development, presumably with a new private nonprofit entity. No other details for the new nonprofit were included in the authorizing provision, as more specific requirements for the nonprofit were to be provided in a separate bill, SB 127, which was not taken up prior to adjournment. Although not enacted into law, SB 127 is worth a look because Read more »

Nuisance Abatement and Local Governments: What a Mess – Part II

Several years ago I prepared a blog entitled “Nuisance Abatement and Local Governments: What a Mess.” At the end of that blog I promised a sequel to take up several other legal issues related to nuisance abatement and building condemnation. Here is that sequel. One issue concerns the nature of the process that must be used by a local government to abate a nuisance or condemn a building. In administrative proceedings particularly, what due process is due? The second issue involves the seizure or destruction of property that can occur when a local government takes direct action to abate a nuisance or demolish a dilapidated building after the owner fails to remedy the conditions that give rise to the problem. Can there be a violation of an individual’s legal rights when a local government or its contractor goes onto private property to destroy the offending property condition? These are the subjects of “Nuisance Abatement and Local Governments: What a Mess – Part II.” Read more »

Planning Board Basics

The local planning board may take many forms and perform many roles.  The core responsibilities are clearly set forth by statute.  The General Statutes also grant fairly wide ranging authority for additional responsibilities, giving local governments the ability to use the planning board in a variety of ways.  This blog outlines the basic requirements for planning boards and explores those options for additional activities.    Read more »

Protest Petitions No Longer Allowed in North Carolina

UPDATE: Post updated 11/12/21 to incorporate statutory amendments.

The zoning protest petition is no longer authorized for use in North Carolina. Even if a zoning regulation still  references a supermajority vote requirement if a protest is filed, that is no longer effective. A simple majority of those eligible to vote is sufficient to adopt a rezoning. The material below on protest petitions is of historic reference value only.

What is a zoning protest petition?

The protest petition allowed those most directly affected by a proposed zoning map amendment to make a formal objection (a protest petition) and thereby trigger a requirement that the amendment can only be adopted if was approved by a three-fourths majority of the city council.  If a person bought property zoned for commercial use and the city council later considers rezoning it to a less intensive use, that person could file a protest petition and trigger this supermajority voting requirement.  Similarly, if someone bought a lot zoned for single-family residential use and after building their home the city council considered rezoning the lot next door to allow a fast food restaurant, that adjacent homeowner could file a protest petition and the zoning change could be made only if at least three quarters of the city council agrees to do so. This provision was in the North Carolina zoning statutes from 1923 to 2015.

How did this special voting rule come to be a part of zoning ordinances? Who could trigger the higher voting majority?  Read more »

Road Trips Raise the Darndest Questions

I was on vacation with my family last week, and there’s nothing quite like a drive across our fair state to spur interest in motor vehicle laws. Here are a few of the questions that my clan raised along the way. Read more »