There’s been a mad rush among U.S. employers lately to out layoff each other. Alcoa, aluminum producer, just announced it was slashing 15,000 jobs; health insurers Cigna and Aetna plan to cut thousands of jobs; and rumors have been flying that a bloodbath is coming at IBM.

The numbers of people they’re kicking out is staggering and most workers who get pink slipped have little recourse.

Your employer doesn’t have to explain to you why they’re showing you the door, and they typically owe you little when you depart.

Well, the economic downturn that has American companies slicing and dicing their workforces is also hitting China, but firms there can’t just julienne workers.

Chinese labor law prohibits “at will” firing practices common in the U.S., which means employers must have a legal basis for firing any employee.

This according to a great story in a human resource publication called “Workforce Management” magazine by Jeremy Smerd who says layoffs in China, and many parts of Asia, are still considered “taboo.”

Companies that rushed into China during the boom years may find it difficult amid the global downturn to extract themselves, labor law attorneys say.

“It wasn’t too long ago when the burning issue was hiring, recruiting and retention,” said Joseph Deng, a labor contract attorney with Baker & McKenzie in China. “Now it seems the No. 1 issue for many companies in China is cost cutting, termination and redundancies.”

“The first thing you have to keep in mind is that employees have contracts,” Deng said. “You cannot unilaterally terminate a contract.”

Before making any layoffs, employers need to present their plans to employee-represented work councils at each company—called employee representative congresses, which are union organizations elected by employees. For employers whose workers have not organized into unions, any indication that the company intends to lay employees off could incite workers to organize.

Now, I’m not trying to say all working conditions for employees in China are great. In fact, they are crummy and workers are underpaid. But this story points out a key right that employees there have that American workers should also be afforded.

Employers should have to explain why they’re laying people off and make a strong case for their actions, or not be allowed to terminate employees willy nilly.

Are layoffs really going to help a company in tough times, or will it just enrich executives who want to see their stock options rise?

Many people ask me what “at-will employment” really means because they always end up getting screwed by it. Basically, in every state in the U.S., except Montana, an employer can fire you without cause. Workers are protected from being discriminated against, but in most other cases they can kick you out the door for what ever reason because the law doesn’t see employment as a contract between a worker and employer. If you do have a written or oral contract with a company, that’s a whole other story, but for most of us that’s not the case.

So, this is what China does not have, “at-will” employment.

If it weren’t for tainted baby milk and the national disgrace of having a pretty little girl lip sync during the Olympics, I’d move there in a heart beat.