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Comment by overcast | Hacker News Reader

You don't owe the company you work for anything. You worked, in exchange for money. End of transaction. Two weeks is being courteous, sixty days is being ridiculous. See the comment below, where Microsoft guards escort you out two days after giving them two weeks notice. This is not unique to MS. Do companies normally give you 14-60 days to find a new job before firing you? Nope.

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I think that guy said he worked for a third party who was just associated with Microsoft. When I was at Microsoft I gave them about a month's notice because that's when I was scheduled to move across the country and I "served my time" without issue.

I also find it mildly amusing to make my last day at a company be on or just after April Fool's Day so my goodbye emails are funnier.

I don't know US laws, but in Canada you have to give an appropriate notice that can extend far beyond 2 weeks. Your loyalty obligations also extent after the employment period. For instance, a dentist who gave the usual 2 weeks had to pay 45,000$ in damage[0]. There is many more examples like that for high-skill hard-to-replace employees.

[0]https://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/rgd/2006-v36-n1-rgd01560/10...

There is definitely no law requiring you to give any notice to an employer. I can walk out right now if I want to. The only benefit of giving a company two weeks, is not burning bridges. The unfortunate situation up North seems like the classic Canadian stereotype, where you're always sorry for it somehow being your fault.

That's interesting. Up here the employer still have to prove damage in court. I can understand the reasoning. If are a the only highly specialized engineer in a small shop, quitting unexpectedly could jeopardize the whole operation and put more people out of work. But then again, maybe I'm just a stereotypical Canadian ;).

If one person leaving jeopardizes the entire company, then that sounds like a serious issue with management and the business as a whole. What if they fall ill, or die suddenly? Everyone is replaceable.

Presumably that consideration goes both ways? The employee may be critical to the company, but the reverse is also very true -- the company is likely the sole source of income to the employee and losing it unexpectedly would be devastating. So what kind of mandated compensation is due to employees that are involuntarily terminated?

Sadly (and weirdly) it's not symmetrical. The law specifies a minimum termination notice of only two weeks from the employer. Most people assume the two weeks notice applies both ways (and it's generally fine), but it's not accurate and can bite you if you have a litigious former employer.

> Do companies normally give you 14-60 days to find a new job before firing you? Nope.

Actually, yes, in europe they do. 90 days, contractually agreed upon. Unless there's a very serious issue like theft, violence or similar, you have 90 days until you're without work. Usually it is also at the end of a month, so sometimes it can be up to almost 4 months if they decide to fire you at the start of a month.

You're very fortunate then, but we were discussing US employment.

Depends on your work contract. Some require advanced notice for higher level positions. Standard rank and file employees in the US is accurately describes as two weeks notice is appropriate where companies will often ask that you either keep it quiet or terminate you on the spot.

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