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Comment by closewith | Hacker News Reader

For context, the OP is in the EU and UK, where none of the above is true.

That said, he's a recruiter and there's nothing of value to be found in the blog post.

Well they can't fire you totally on the spot in the UK, but I believe they can put you on immediate "gardening leave" where you lose all access to systems and buildings etc. You'll still get paid and are still technically employed, but you'll not be working on anything and can't go to the office.

I think there is some expectation for gardening leave to be available for the odd call or meeting for doing handovers etc, but realistically I don't think anyone would expect a disgruntled suddenly-made-redundant employee to really do that with any gusto or enthusiasm.

"you'll still get paid and are still technically employed, but you'll not be working on anything and can't go to the office."

Oh noooooooooo, anything but that!

Joking aside, seriously, part of why this is all so traumatizing in the US is because the second you know you're getting laid off, you're not even thinking about the job or anything anymore. You're trying to guess how much COBRA is going to be and hoping you don't get seriously ill in the next N months.

Seriously, COBRA is often so fucking expensive that being laid off doesn't just mean loss of income, it means literally suddenly getting a NEGATIVE paycheck each month, as you now have to cover the % of the healthcare plan your employer was paying for. If I got laid off right now, i'd immediately start paying about $6000/mo for my current policy under COBRA. Then, if you do need to use it, it's still got a deducible and coinsurance!

So yeah, that's why summary dismissal is so painful in the US.

that has to be a typo. 6 thousand a month (72k/year) on insurance??

I think i multiplied a bit too aggressively in my head. I think it'd be more like 2.5k/mo. I'm out of pocket $900/mo right now, and I think that's less than half, because my employer covers 100% of my premiums and 50% of the family premiums. So double that 900, and then add me in.

You can actually be fired on the spot, this is called "summary dismissal", but only applies in case of gross misconduct, so the cases that become "office lore" ;)

idk, while trite, the bulleted list is full of common sense that’s all too easily forgotten:

> * Do not sacrifice your relationship with family and friends to appease your employer.

* Do not sacrifice your mental wellbeing to appease your employer.

* Do not sacrifice your dignity, values, and ethics to appease your employer.

* Do not buy into the bullshit hype of “hustle” to appease your employer.

> the OP is in the EU and UK, where none of the above is true.

You can absolutely be dismissed without cause in the UK, protections against this only kick in after two years of employment.

Statutory notice period would still apply in the UK. You'll get at least a week's notice unless you've been there less than a month.

True, but to be fair the statutory notice period is for the pay, not access to the internal messaging systems.

> For context, the OP is in the EU and UK, where none of the above is true.

In the EU many protections -- depending on the member state -- only apply under certain conditions. For example, employees in companies with less than 10.25 FTE do not enjoy any termination protection beyond very short notice periods (between 1 and 7 month) in Germany.

> do not enjoy any termination protection beyond very short notice periods (between 1 and 7 month) in Germany.

Not sure if that's a typo because several months of notice sounds long to me!

You get 7 months notice after 20 years of employment. I think that puts it into perspective ;)

I think you're lacking perspective. In most of the US, after twenty years service, you can be fired on the spot.

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