How can you avoid creating an “implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing”?

Occasionally, when a discharge seems particularly unfair but there is no specific promise that has been broken or public policy that has been violated, a court will read a covenant of good faith and fair dealing into an employment relationship. Under this covenant, some courts have said that the employer must have cause for discharging an employee, even though there is no specific or implied agreement that says so. Other courts have only been receptive to this concept when the discharge deprives an employee from compensation or benefits that have already been earned. This court-created exception to the at-will doctrine is very narrow. Few courts have recognized it. Those that have recognized it have acted on the following premises:

• the employment relationship is contractual, even if there is no written contract;

• each employment contract contains an unwritten provision that the employer will treat the employee fairly and in good faith.