At-will employees can be sent down the road kicking cans for any undisclosed reason, at any time.
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Please show me where you saw this. This is patently false. Government workers are not at-will employees.
Employees of federal and state governments cannot be fired without cause. Not only that, but government employees are entitled to due process before they are terminated.
Government employees: Federal, state and local government workers are protected by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, which prohibit the government from depriving any person of “life, liberty or property” without due process of law. The procedures that federal government agencies must follow when terminating an employee appear in the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978.
The federal government and the private sector handle cutbacks differently. In “Corporate America” the ax falls suddenly. But in the case of downsizing the federal government warns its employees of cutbacks several months in advance so that terminated employees have a way to support themselves when the pink slip arrives. The advance warning gives federal employees a couple of options for how they want to deal with the impending cutback. The old adage, “last hired, first fired” applies when federal cutbacks happen. Typically, longtime employees and military veterans are safe. Additionally, federal agencies also want to retain their female and minority employees.
But again, government workers are not at-will employees.