No, because this was funny to me too!
I guess they really didn't want her services anymore. :D

I figured as much. They treated her with the same respect she had been treating them. I don't see anything wrong with it.

I don't think even here in the US that there are any legal stipulations about HOW you can fire someone. I think if the company wanted to hire someone to skywrite over their house that the employee was fired, they're legally within their rights. There's no law (that I'm aware of) entitling workers to confidentiality when being fired or limiting the employer as to how they can do it.

Of course, this story happened in England, so I have no idea what their laws are like, but I still don't see any government legislating about how an employer can terminate an employee.

The only rules in the US are when there are state employee laws. Some states are "at will" and you can quit or be fired with no particular reason. Some have much stricter rules.

There was a big deal in France about allowing under 25 year olds to be fired with no reason in their 1st 2 years. This was supposed to make people more interested in hiring them. Instead they just got pissed off. I'm not sure what the rules are in France but there must be some sort of labor laws.

Of course, none of this applies to England and I would suspect that she called in "sick" after one too many nights out on the town.

Every state except for Montana are "at will" states. "At will" doesn't really mean much these days, either...you can file claims against your previous employer at will, too.

That being said...to my knowledge there are no laws regarding the method of notification of termination in the US.

At will means a lot still. A company can't mandate you to stay and you can't make them keep you. Unfortunately America is a land were people can also sue-at-will for anything including employment, but it doesn't guarantee that you will win, but it's really a pain in the butt. If the employer has all their ducks in a row, they should be okay. I will search my HR books to see if there are any stipulations as to how you can fire any one.