That would at least trigger COBRA and unemployment, which having quit and not actually started a new job wouldn’t. That’s a better situation from my perspective.
COBRA is available regardless of whether you quit voluntarily or not. And COBRA isn’t free, you have to pay for it and it is extremely expensive.
This is exactly what happened with the last batch of major tech layoffs.
that would be another level of douchebaggery, although probably not unprecedented