How do Layoffs happen under “for-cause” employment laws?

Question

It's a dark time for the tech industry with lots of layoffs happening.I'd like to understand how layoffs can happen in states/countries with "for-cause" termination. While "at-will" employment laws permit corporations to easily fire employees, how do they happen in areas with "for-cause" employment laws?Furthermore, it seems that these layoffs are happening in nations with "at-will" employment laws. This website[1] shows that companies in Canada are also firing employees. I thought all nations other than USA had "for-cause" employment laws?[1] https://layoffstracker.com/

mytailorisrich · Accepted Answer

Companies are free to reorganise and to eliminate jobs as a consequence. That's why layoffs are often called "redundancies" (at least in the UK), the cause is that the position has been made redundant.
There is a procedure to follow and which is specific to each jurisdiction. In general this may involve a consultation with employees, setting transparent and fair criteria for selecting employees who will be laid off, giving enough notice and paying required severance (minimum mandated by law).
For instance if you worked at Twitter in Europe and it was decided that your team was no longer needed...

FormFollowsFunc · Answer

In places like Ireland companies like Twitter have flouted the law for things like lack of consultation but the government probably won&rsquo;t punish them because the tech companies are such a big employer there.