It sounds representative of every part of Europe I’ve experienced.

You probably never worked in Austria.

Or southern europe

Austria has unions and Betriebsräte, we even have one in a big american company, so op is correct.

You have no idea about Switzerland or Northern Europe. In Denmark and Iceland, layoffs are swift.

That's true. But contracts here usually have a set termination time, with a minimum notice time typically required by law, dependent on how long you've been hired at the company. Tends to be one month for below a year, three months beyond a year.

As in after a termination there's a period during which you're still supposed to work and collect the salary.

Exceptions are B2B contracts (but they still often have one of those) and some piece work contracts.

Of course a particular bastard of a company can still immediately cut you off everything but the salary including the doors.

> Exceptions are B2B contracts (but they still often have one of those) and some piece work contracts.

In the UK big corporations got a loophole where they can get employees without affording them any rights. It's called IR35 that Tory government amended to facilitate this, as Brexit benefit (the regulation would have been illegal otherwise if we were still in the EU).

It's totally legal to fire employee without any notice for any reason or even pay them below minimum wage.

Out of curiosity, why "bastard"? ...if you're being terminated, isn't the best possible outcome that you get your salary but don't have to go to work?

Do you guys not even get the chance to send a goodbye mail to colleagues?

Shrodinger's Europe. It could be homogeneously like Denmark, Sicily, Monaco, Hungary, London or Belarus or anywhere else. You don't know which until you have an asinine blanket statement you need to back up.