IANAL, and I'm just taking a stab in the dark here... But might it have to do with the work contract not being made in good faith?
That is in my basic understanding of contracts it is assumed as part of the contract that there is good will between both parties to fulfill what is set out in the contract. Practices such as these would indicate that the company has no actual intention of hiring the employee and is using the hire as an additional filter.
I suppose if the contract stipulated that there was a trial period or some such it might be a way to wiggle out of it. From a quick google search it seems you can either sue for Fraud (they advertised a permanent position and that wasn't the case, or they didn't make it explicit that the position was temporary) or Breach of Contract if they didn't specify that you were in a trial period.
Would love to hear from someone with better grasp of the situation.
In the US, generally people are employed at will (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At-will_employment) which means an employee can be dismissed by an employer for pretty much any reason and an employee can leave their job for any reason, without any notice.
There's some exceptions (for example, discrimination) but you're free to take a job in bad faith too.
A job being at-will doesn't affect whether you can offer a job in bad faith. "At will" says you have the right to fire me for any reason. "Bad faith" means you shouldn't offer me the job in the first place unless you mean it. They affect two different actions.
Let's make an extreme example: I interview Anderson, Beth, and Charlee. I like Anderson and Beth, but Beth is a better fit for the team. Charlee is terrible.
Meanwhile, All three are interviewing with my competition. So... I give jobs to Anderson and Beth. I offer Anderson a very good salary just to make sure he doesn't go to the competition. They hire Charlee, and that's a win for me. Now I fire Anderson.
I suggest that if this was my plan all along, I wronged Anderson when I offered him a job in bad faith. I may not have wronged him when I used the "at will" provision to fire him, but I wronged him when I fraudulently offered him a job that I had zero intention of letting him earn the right to keep.
In Australia we have strong job protection including unfair dismissal laws which would obviously cover this scenario.
It's part of the balance between keeping a good economy and recognising that jobs aren't just profit generation for employers, but also the means by which people support themselves and their families.
That is in my basic understanding of contracts it is assumed as part of the contract that there is good will between both parties to fulfill what is set out in the contract. Practices such as these would indicate that the company has no actual intention of hiring the employee and is using the hire as an additional filter.
I suppose if the contract stipulated that there was a trial period or some such it might be a way to wiggle out of it. From a quick google search it seems you can either sue for Fraud (they advertised a permanent position and that wasn't the case, or they didn't make it explicit that the position was temporary) or Breach of Contract if they didn't specify that you were in a trial period.
Would love to hear from someone with better grasp of the situation.