What happened to at will?

"So I can fire him, right?" This is the hopeful, leading question many clients ask when they call to see if I agree with their decision to terminate an employee. As an employment lawyer, I am often left in these situations with the generally thankless task of explaining to clients the reasons why it would be imprudent to terminate their employees. This unpopular advice is often met with a response such as, "What do you mean? This is employment at will. I don't even need a reason to fire this person."

And there it is, the bane of my existence: the comforting dream of many employers that their employees are "atwill employees" and that there is such a thing as "employment at will."