DOMA and Prop 8. Both History.

[kandrathe]

Because I can say that I don't like your shirt. Or that I don't like your attitude. It's some bizarre state law that also means that they don't have to give you a reason on why they are firing you.

I think the law is "at will employment" in many states.

Nothing is so simple. For example, former Ohio State basketball coach Jim O'brien famously sued for wrongful termination and won millions of dollars. Less famously some of my coworkers have been "walked out" and had their jobs reinstated a day or two later. It may be that there are no specific state laws offering protection to people in these situations, but such protection can be built into your contract, and federal laws as well as Constitutional rights also apply. By same token if you refuse service to someone and you are violating some federal law by doing so it really wouldn't matter what state you live in.

In this case, it is thrice fraught with danger; 1st, the students get federal financial aid so you must be careful to not lose your good graces with the feds, 2nd the NCAA is watching and you don't want the University to get suspended (bad for business), and 3rd, coaches ( and faculty) are covered by contracts, which is what O'Brien felt was breached, and it turned out that way.

As far as I remember, federal labor laws apply to safety, hours worked, overtime, FMLA, EEO, ADA and taxes.

In most at will employment, you can be fired at anytime without cause. If you have a contract, then things are different.