If the rest of the country is like here it's almost impossible to actually fire anyone. They are afraid of being sued. About a decade ago I worked for a company that had a guy that just could not do his job. Previously he would get great performance appraisals (employee reviews) so he could move from group to group. When a supervisor, with an actual spine, was assigned this guy and he failed at every task he was assign she decided to fire him. It took a year and a half gathering paperwork, independent reviews, additional training and other nonsense. When she finally fired him he sued the company. Of course the company caved to avoid a public lawsuit. It was a scam from the onset.
I think that's why many companies use contract help rather than hire a person. It's much easier to fire some one. I had to fire a contractor once because he damaged basically everything he touched. It took less than 5 minutes to revote his pass, cancel his network accounts, escort him to the front door and have his contract ended.