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Comment by pessimizer | Hacker News Reader

Layoffs aren't particularly inhumane, they're common, especially after a change of leadership. If you want workers' rights, fight for them. It's bizarre to make it into a soap opera of judging the moral worth of great men.

It's bizarre how Musk has been propped up into a surrogate for the bad aspects of capitalism, especially by an administration that just overruled a union vote through legislation.

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GP didn't say "layoffs are inhumane", but that the manner in which people have been fired is inhumane.

What was the "inhumane" manner?

From https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1588671155766194176

"Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required."

Seems reasonably generous. Certainly not "inhumane."

That statement is inaccurate for many reasons. Employees in India and other countries were offered nothing. The “severance” is really 1 month severance and 2 months garden leave, which is required under WARN and may not be paid if employees get another job. This is a direct contradiction of the terms of the merger.

If you trust Elon to do the right thing for employees after seeing the class action lawsuits at Tesla (and more are on the way for Twitter), I have a bridge to sell you.

> If you trust Elon to do the right thing

Where did I say I trust Elon or any other CEO?

Still waiting on someone to explain what is "inhumane" about getting laid off with a severance package. Remember we are talking about employees working at a big tech firm. They'll find work elsewhere, and have had pay above the national average. They likely have plenty of savings.

I don't give a shit about Elon or Twitter. My comment was just holding someone accountable for the narrative they were creating. Typical for HN to have someone jump in with an irrelevant reply.

How is the fact that Indian employees got no severance irrelevant?

> The “severance” is really 1 month severance

> Indian employees got no severance

https://www.cnbctv18.com/business/companies/elon-musk-justif...

"Here is an excerpt of letters shared with employees in India and reviewed by CNBC-TV18:

“Today is your last working day at the company, however, you will remain employed by Twitter and will receive compensation and benefits through your separation date of January 4, 2023.""

> What was the "inhumane" manner?

You should probably ask this of the original commenter.

I've not made any claims one way or the other about whether anything inhumane happened.

As an example of this, being laid off is not inhumane, but being laid off on Thanksgiving day while on paternity leave certainly is.

Entirely depends on severance package.

Highly disagree. You can't just throw money at a problem to make it go away.

These are real people with real lives that were needlessly disrupted on what is supposed to be a day for love and thankfulness. Sure is a shitty and inhumane way to thank your employees.

The assumption here is that if you're paid that well you won't have survival issues or that much problem getting a new job

If there is time to get a big bag of money from your employee the holiday month is the best one

Great, now you have money but your life was disrupted during what most call a global recession and with thousands of highly skilled engineers also out there trying to find a job.

While you’re caring for a newborn or desperately trying to remain in the country.

During thanksgiving.

So how exactly does giving someone money not make this a shitty and heartless thing to do? You know, what some might call “inhumane”?

Once again, throwing cash at the problem doesn’t fix it. Getting money might be nice, but it doesn’t magically fix the lack of a job.

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