So as I see it, the society leaves most of an employment contract up to the firm-employee combo (where the firm has the upper hand). But some fundamental thing

So as I see it, the society leaves most of an employment contract up to the firm-employee combo (where the firm has the upper hand). But some fundamental things are not up to the company, at least by law: can't discriminate by gender, race, age, veteran status, marital status, having children and so on. In Europe, like it or not, you must give your employees paid holiday leave, sick leave and time off to look after children. If firing people, you must give them proper notice, and cannot fire people for a long list of reasons considered illegal. If doing group redundancies, you must follow proper procedure, aiming to maximise the fairness of the approach.