Worst Countries For Employees to be Laid Off: The U.S. & Switzerland

Ever wonder where the worst place is to be let go from your job? Wonder no more. The U.S. took the top spot and Switzerland followed in second place. According to eFinancialCareers, our country and Switzerland favor the employer and make it simple for them to trim headcount. Here's why: Every state in our country aside from Montana has "at will" employment. Essentially employers can lay off its people for any time and for any reason. Sure, it is not supposed to be discriminatory but at will also means they're not legally required to dole out money. If there's a mass downsizing here equating to 500 or more employees, at least the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) requires employers to tell their people 60 days in advance. In addition to the U.S. and Switzerland, Hong Kong didn't do too well on the list either. Their employers don't have to legally justify job cuts either but as pointed out in the piece, it's generous with its severance packages of two-thirds of a month's pay for each year of service. Interestingly enough, France, Germany and Holland are tied to employment laws that favor employees. For instance, in France, an employer needs to pursue lengthy efforts in order to justify pink slips even when they're related to the economy. And in Holland, get this -- an employer needs to get the green light from the court as well as Dutch labor authorities before cutting its staff. Failure to going through the proper channels could result in an employee's reinstatement. As for the good news, if you live in China, the employment law is in your favor as well. Statutory redundancy pay equates to one month for every year of service. Furthermore, the country's employment laws make it very challenging to eliminate jobs.

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Worst Countries For Employees to be Laid Off: The U.S. & Switzerland

Vicki Salemi

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Vicki Salemi