>That sounds awful. For an enlightened society, that sounds very feudal. Here we only have issues like that if there is an employment contract involved, and then it's just normal contract law that comes into play.
>

It goes both ways Alan

Without a valid reason (theft, always arrive late, ..) the employee cannot be terminated at once
He can get the sack, but depending on a couple of things (time employed, level of the job, ...) the employer must still pay him for x months. During that time the employee has to work. The employer can ask the employee to leave immediately, but still owes him the pay for x months. Most of the times the x is negotiated

Likewise, the employee cannot leave at once
If the employer wants to leave, he still has to continue to work for x/2 months. The employer may agree to the employee leaving at once