Was firing an over-reaction?

SEC regulations used to be a much more lightweight than they are these days (post-enron). Also many other countries (such as UK) have much less regulation on public companies than what SEC imposes. And I'm not saying that these regulations are bad - I'm just saying that the are heavy - and that US is certainly not "unregulated capitalism".

Now we have of course deviated far from the original article.

Back to the topic, workers rights - it is correct that the US At-will employment is harsh for workers. But here at the "civilized side of pond", we have seen the rise of temporary employment agencies, and the end result is not any better for worker than being employed at will...