"When I opened your letter yesterday I could not believe it was true". Phil Collins

So the company you have worked for the last few years, and probably quite a lot longer, has decided that your dedication, long hours, days and weeks away from the family, stress levels of an RAF fighter pilot in a war zone, worry and countless writing of reports that are always ignored has decided that you are surplus to requirements.
And in many cases it's exactly like that as you end up feeling like an old filing cabinet. One day full of very important documents of new products, proposed new services and very important minutes of crucial meetings that you will use to forensically destroy Marketing's next proposal. The next day the shredder for the lot of it. How does it actually happen? What do they do? What can they do?
The law (in the UK).
A quick scamper to the USA. A friend there worked for a company for seven years. Came to the UK, went to Australia, had lots of strokey beard meetings about new services, worked directly for the CEO. 4 days notice and no severance pay. In the States they have an "at will" contract where either side can bail out.The UK at least has some safety net called a contract (hollow laugh) and redundancy pay (work out just how little they have to pay you). But more of that later.
You have a contract of employment right? Read it lately? Ever read it? It's this that is used to determine how you are "terminated" and it will be used in evidence m'lord.
Advice: look at this site run by the DTI http://www.dti.gov.uk/employment/employment-legislation/employment-guidance/
It tells you all you need to know about the law.

Yes but how does it happen? From the sublime to the ridiculous is the answer.
Here's some personal examples.

• UK company closed down, everybody loses their job. MD takes personal interest in every member of staff (200), meets everyone on their last day, wishes them well, thanks them for their contribution and sends them off (and, mark this, his wife is dying of cancer during this process). Company arranges outplacement support, counselling, and a generous severance payment. This is a great company. I'm not making this up, "I was there" as Max Boyce used to say.
  
• Restructure 1. Multinational company invites entire sales and marketing team to conference arena (500 people). CEO presents new structure with PowerPoint presentation and invites everyone to come forward and see their new jobs. If your name isn't on the slide, no job. This is an arrogant company and deserves to do very badly for many years, which it does actually. And that feels so good.
  
• Restructure 2. Multinational company says nothing at all to staff. Monday morning staff arrive and find brown envelopes on their desks. Brown envelope equals no job. This is a stupid company and comes very close to closing its operation in the UK two years later. It still can't retain staff and probably still wonders why.
• Restructure 3. UK company taken over by American organisation with delusions of international expansion. IT Director photographed next to CEO for company newsletter after winning prestigious award - asked to leave the site the following day. By the CEO.
  
• Restructure 4. Meeting with Sales Director, position made redundant (done properly and according to procedure) but with promise that if redeployed that salary would be maintained. Promise withdrawn in 48 hours, no explanation ever given.
• Restructure 5. Meeting with MD, (done properly and according to procedure), asked to work period of notice and "please don't tell any other staff as it will unsettle them" (lack of empathy there I feel), and then with just a few days to go a "ah, seem to have made a mistake here, now you have to stay." No apology for the stress and worry then?
• Restructure 6. New owners with the attitude of Attila the Hun with "a remember that general talk we had the other day about things looking sticky for a number of people well that was actually the start of the consultation period. You still here?"

So you see it can all happen humanely with a real feel for staff and their contribution or at the other extreme you might as well be a piece of furniture that is being discarded. My very first letter of redundancy actually said "you are surplus to requirements." Lesson here - seven years I worked for them and went in to work on the day my first child was born. Think on't.

I've done a fair amount of statistical work and see from the above that from six examples, only one was handled properly. That makes a 16% chance that yours will be handled correctly. The question is, do you feel lucky?

Thing is then, if statistically you are likely to be handled badly- how do you feel when you get the letter? That's next.