That's the opposite of the attitude among employers in the United States, where the prevailing rule is "fire at will." There's much less risk in taking on a new employee -- if she does a mediocre job, or the need for it disappears, a company can give her the gate. From individual dismissals to mass layoffs, employers generally don't need to ask permission from anyone. This is a gross over-simplification. Firing someone "for cause" in the U.S. may be relatively easy, but it is a case to be avoided if at all possible, lest you wind up in a lawsuit for wrongful termination. The best way to get rid of the deadwood is through larger layoffs, where, hey it's nothing personal, it's just that your position went away...
There does seem to be a muddying of the waters between firing and laying off or as we say redundancy.