No Portuguese need apply

The Constitutional Court of Portugal doesn't want there to be any hiring going on...that might necessitate some firing;

Portugal’s Constitutional Court has ruled that a number of aspects of the labor reform approved last summer by the center-right government of Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho are illegal.

In a ruling made public on Thursday, the Court said that some of the regulations in the reform regarding the dismissal of employees are too “vague,” and leave it up to the discretion of companies to decide on whether layoffs are justified or not.

“The law does not provide the necessary regulatory indications about the criteria that should be used by a company in deciding which jobs should be cut,” the writ said. This, it said, “opens the door for arbitrary and legally uncontrollable dismissals.” The law also frees companies of the obligation to provide workers whose jobs are to be eliminated with alternative employment if available.

Round up the usual suspects;

The Court’s latest ruling came in response to a suit filed by the Communist Party of Portugal (PCP), the Left Bloc (IU) and the Greens right after the reform was approved last year.