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datalopers

No it's not. Severance is extremely common, while this package is quite generous.

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Severance is common in high paying tech jobs. Severance is not common in general.

Almost 60% of US workers are hourly and most of them don't get severance. A lot of the other 40% dont either.

https://www.workstream.us/blog/hourly-vs-salaried-jobs-benef...

Severance as in a 'voluntary' payment by employers is a US thing that I don't understand. Do you mind explaining why it gets paid at all?

In the UK, it's common for employers to have contractual obligation to pay a notice period, and for longer term employees they are legally obliged to be firing them on capacity or redundancy grounds - so it is common to pay some severance in order to pay the employee to resign themself and sign some legal paperwork saying it's okay.

I don't get why employers pay extra money "just to be nice" where there isn't some legal reason to do it...?

Thought there are 0 hour job as well in Uk. But Uk at least have universal health care.

Not only is not common but it's definitely not "extremely common." In the current wave of layoffs signaling the end of the "cheap money era" it does seem more common however. At least among the types of companies that are likely to make it onto the HN front page. I've worked for plenty of startups where we got nothing more than being paid up through the day we were laid off. And most of those withheld our last check until we returned all company property.

Severance is definitely not common in startups. They'll usually burn the cash right up until the very last investor says 'no more' and then call it quits. They might have one more pay period (or two) in the bank.

Or worse: they go right up to the edge, convince people to work for back pay for "a month or two", then shut down afterward. I've seen that happen.

I got hired by a place, and my first paycheck bounced.

The owners are now billionaires.

(They sold the company to a Fortune 100 about 18 months later.)

Employers are by dollar amount the biggest actual thieves by far in the US. Business owners ought to generally receive more scorn and critical evaluation than common property thieves who represent a thin fragment, if we really care about theft

Why don't you go start a business and become one of these rich employers you speak of? If taking such risks wasn't rewarded accordingly, then I don't think people would be nearly as eager to start a business.

There can be a lot of risks involved, and a lot of theft.

https://calmatters.org/explainers/when-employers-steal-wages...

I'm talking about a system at scale, not individual actors. You don't know what I'm doing as an individual and it's not relevant to a discussion of material reality as observed. If your solution to this problem at scale is for everyone to become a rich employer in order to avoid wage theft, I don't know what to tell you

Re: risk staked, I will add that for many business owners their greatest risk and fear is simply having to work for a wage themselves.

Respond to "stealing is bad" with "then why don't you become a thief if it's so easy?!?" is very strange.

Hi I don't have power to downvote, so please accept my comment in place: irrelevant.

Doubtless for some cohort of employers you are correct.

Unfortunately your statement is painted with a wide brush, covering everyone from Jeff at Amazon to the owner of a corner grocery store. Everything from profitable FAANGs, to VC funded startups with hypergrowth ambitions, to small, finally profitable, boot-strapped endeavours.

Clearly among that group there are some who have embraced late-stage capitalism, who are milking their custoners and employees at every turn.

However, I would suggest, that many more have spent a life-time working harder, with less income security, doing what it takes in good times and bad. Looking after employees, treating them, and customers, fairly.

If after all this time they become well compensated, perhaps even rich, calling them "theives" belies the effort, and sacrifice, to reach that place.

To respond briefly, [Jeff at] Amazon has been convicted of being one of the leading wage thieves, and small business owners like the corner grocery store are also frequently accused and caught for wage theft. It is a pretty wide brush that's needed to evaluate the majority category of theft in the US.

I haven't mentioned anything about the effort or value employers provide. I don't think hard work from owners is relevant to the amount they thieve. And I wonder why you don't mention anything about the hard work provided by the labor who are victims to the largest category of theft, who by definition do the majority of the work obligated in business to begin with.

It’s definitely common in parts of the world where workers have organized to have severance required by law or through other organized means. When workers demand it one on one with their employers, they have no leverage and are at the mercy of “nice owners” (ones that value reputations effects created by worker-favorable market conditions)

This kind of package is very rare. It's uncommon to get any kind of severance without tenure and many companies have been laying off w/no severance what-so-ever in my area regardless of tenure. They pay through the current week, expect you to return all equipment, and f right off.

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