[wolfgke]

'The offer letter he received, which was in English, stated clearly the “at will” nature of the contract. The relevant clause is below. - "While we hope that your employment with the Company will be mutually satisfactory, employment with the Company is for no specific period of time. As a result, either you or the Company is free to terminate your employment relationship at any time for any reason, with or without cause. This is the full and complete agreement between us on this term. Although your job duties, title, compensation and benefits, as well as the Company’s personnel policies and procedures, may change from time-to-time, the “at-will” nature of your employment may not be changed except by an express writing signed and dated by both you and the President of the Company."

This was also explained thoroughly upon signing of the actual contract, which was a standard contract of full time employment within the Portuguese law, which includes 3 months trial period, by default. At the time we did not have our contract translated to English, which is why we took great pains to make sure everything was clear, but shortly after all the contracts were translated to English.'

While there are similar terms in the German law (6 months in most cases) at least in Germany it makes a really bad impression if people get fired while in the trial period. This is about one step above "hellbanning" the employee, since you can rely on the fact that the next employer where you apply, will ask lots of question if you were fired in the trial period. Thus if a company fires people unfairly while the employee was in trial, the employee has reasons to react really harshly.

I really don't know how this is in Portugal, but if there is a similar culture, I can understand Andreas Wild completely.