What's crazy is that the US is an "at will" employment law. Which means you can get fired (or quit) for any trivial reason at all what so ever (the meaning of 'at will'). The only people with legal recourse are protected classes (ie, minorities). But it would be both improbable and abusive if mass-lafoffs were only legal fodder in this context. Who the heck else is suing and for what? Or is it just the threat of lawsuits (bad pr) and no-fee lawyers (1/3 ransom) that facilitates this as some sort of "greenmail"? What an odd system!
The crazy part is that it's virtually impossible to successfully sue for wrongful termination, but companies still go to extreme lengths to cover their asses.
I can see going to heavy lengths at certain company sizes, like Wal-Mart. A flaw in your HR policy at that scale can escalate to a class action or large case that district attorneys lust after. Wal-Mart, for instance, has paid out hundreds of millions in legal suits stemming from HR practices in the last decade alone.
You can get fired for any reason except a blacklist of reasons that are illegal to get fired for. That means in order to fire someone, a lawyer will tell you that you need to be able to explain why the reason isn't in the blacklist.
