Virginia is an employment­at­will state; this means the employer may terminate any employee at any time, for any reason, or for no reason. As a general rule, therefore, the employee has no right to challenge the termination. There are a few very limited exceptions. For example, an employee may not be discriminated against or terminated because he has filed a safety complaint or exercised his rights under OSHA law. Virginia Code § 40.1­51.2:1. Also, federal law protects employees from discrimination because of age, race, sex, religion, national origin or handicap.