In the essay titled 'At Will as Taking' by Robyn Powell, the author argues that at-will employment rules strip workers of job security and are therefore unconstitutional takings of workers' property. Powell proposes expanding the doctrine of job security as a property entitlement from the public sector to the private sector and from the Due Process Clause to the Takings Clause. The essay suggests that the at-will termination regime in forty-nine states can be challenged through takings claims, providing a potential avenue for protecting workers from increasing precarity[4a1a0c80].
The essay challenges the notion that employers are the sole property owners in the workplace and offers a property-friendly progressive constitutional vision. It highlights how at-will rules dominate labor markets, creating precarity for low- and middle-income workers. These rules undermine equal opportunity, workplace protections, and workers' voices. The essay calls for a systematic examination of first principles to counterbalance the power imbalance between employers and workers[4a1a0c80].