Is Employment at Will a Good Thing?

Employment at will sounds like a good thing. Right? It sounds like you have a choice. Well over the last several weeks I have heard cases from both sides of the fence. A group of girlfriends living in LA struggle will the "at will" law everyday. Their hotel chain employers (as they are waitresses and hostess) fire them at the drop of a dime and without reason. Making it difficult to understand what they've done. On the other hand, a group of HR executives I work with still feel that there are several people (specifically older,minorities) that are low performers but even with the"at will" they can't let them go.

So is the Employment at will law helping enough or hurting employees too much already?