“Big bad company fired employees! There should be a law against that!”
Do you understand what “free market” means and why it matters?
Laws and regulation to “fix” this by forcing companies to explain decisions, hire, or keep employees they don’t want are not principled or sustainable. It comes down to a human’s right to associate or disassociate. Do you force friends to be around you? Do they have an obligation to engage with you on any level? If your girlfriend decides the relationship no longer works for her, is she obligated to “prove” her reasons are “fair”? Is it right to force someone to stay in relationship with you?
If you don’t understand principles or analogies are hard for you, here’s something closer to home: you hire a roofer to retile your roof. Part way through the job, you run low on funds or you calculate that the bang-for-buck $ for *that* roofer are less than another roofer who uses techniques you prefer. Or maybe you have expensive plumbing issues to switch your limited funds to. Do you want the freedom to remove the roofer from the job? Assuming contract *you freely agreed to* allows the action.
“Oh that’s different. You are just one person paying another person to do work for you.”
Really? OK. I invite you to imagine the following scenario:
Let’s say you start a lawn care business. You spend what it takes to buy the necessary equipment (maybe you even go into debt), create a web site, and advertise. You even hire a few guys to help with the work.
It goes well for awhile, so you can afford better equipment and more employees. You have five employees now. Yay! You are happy that you can work independently, offer quality services to *customers who freely choose to use you*, and even aid in the prosperity of your employees!
A robot comes to market that will do the work of three of your employees for far less cost. What do you do? *Should* you be stopped from replacing three of your five employees with that robot? Other than the 2-weeks or month notice you agreed on, do you owe them something else? Or do you ignore the opportunity and tell your wife, “Nah… we can’t afford to make a baby yet”?
If you don’t “get” this: have you ever actually run a business or made a transaction that requires *free* exchange of goods or services?
Furthermore, your employer is not your mommy or daddy. They don’t owe you more than contracted. They pay you for your work and – hopefully – treat you in a humane manner. Your hopes, fantasies, wishes, and “shoulds” are irrelevant. You *are* free to choose.
