Non accredited degree

Question

My job gave me an option to transfer departments due to them eliminating my position. In doing so they stated my BA degree was from a non accredited university after transferring me. The current job posting doesn’t ask for an accredited degree, just a degree. Can they terminate my employment in NYS? I fit all of the criteria otherwise.

Answer 1

The general rule in the U.S., including New York State, is that your employment can be terminated at any time for any reason. This is called "at will" employment. The main exceptions are:

• Civil service employment for the government;

• Tenured professors and teachers at private schools and universities;

• Unionized employees;

• People who live in Montana;

• People with written contracts limiting the grounds upon which their employment can be terminated (mostly senior executives); and

• Termination of employment for a legally recognized discriminatory reason (which does not include having attended a non accredited university).

The facts in the question aren't specific enough to know if you qualify for any of these exceptions, but it seems likely that you do not. Therefore, your employment can be terminated for having attended a non accredited university, even though that wasn't in the job description as a requirement.

Whether terminating you for having attended a non accredited university would constitute sufficient good cause to fire you to disqualify you from unemployment benefits in New York State is a close call and would be a fact-rich inquiry that can't be determined from the facts in the question alone.