The outplacement consultant I've been working with came this close to calling it a scam. She says cases where the person getting the second chance end up keeping the job are pretty much unheard of. I did, a long time ago, but I changed jobs within the company and in the new job, I kicked ass. I also ended up under a different boss.

Basicaly, it gives the company time to get the documentation in order, and provides a nice thing to say to a jury, so that suing them is more difficult.