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Comment by dia80 | Hacker News Reader

This only possible because companies want to be able to fire their employees quickly so that means the employees can leave quickly. I know of one place (in the UK) with a one year notice term. You can't leave quickly so their business is secure but you are secure too as they have to give 12 months notice before letting you go.

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12 months for both sides? So if an employee wants to leave the employer can make them stay for one more year? Doesn't sound like a good thing to me.

12 months is extreme. But it's extreme for both sides.

If the company goes under, good luck getting a year of pay from them.

It is better than many deals, but still seems to favor the employer for the reason most laws do, which is that when a deal is between a person and a company, the law never treats them the same and the company gets what I always see to be the favorable treatment (for example, company can't go to jail).

It's not always true, at least not everywhere. E.g. in my country (Armenia) the employee can leave whenever they like with just a two week's notice (except in situations when they have some central/important role in the organization - in that cases it's 1 month). The employer on the other hand has almost no way to fire someone if he doesn't have very good reasons for that (e.g. lost trust in employee). Mass layoffs are allowed if there is some global change (technology, economy, ..). In that cases the notice period in 3 months.

I guess we inherited this from the USSR (where corporate interest was not a thing) and just didn't have time to change yet.

How is this enforceable? Do they get constables to round you up and handcuff you to desk? What if they just sit there all day doing nothing, they can't be fired for 1 yr?

I can't imagine anything forcing someone to work. I can see something like loose retirement, stock options, whatever if not giving 1 yr notice.

In the UK they would sue you for breach of contract - In reality a compromise agreement would be reached.

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