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points by wavemode 3 days ago | 0 comments

Because the company wouldn't have the money by that point? Seems unlikely. Or because it was an outright lie? Could be grounds for a lawsuit.

[–] rtkwe 3 days ago

Also just from raw corporate penny pinching. Why would they make payouts like that if they're not forced to, yes there's reputational risks of making that promise and then not following through with it but faced with a choice between that and a few lawsuits (with the usual corporate advantages of arbitration clauses and vastly more resources they're likely to win too) a corporation looking to shed people is likely to take the win of reducing their severance payouts.

[–] wavemode 3 days ago

In practice, the money you save long-term by reducing headcount is one or two orders of magnitude larger than the money you pay out in severance. Losing your reputation and a lot of legal fees over (basically) pennies tends not to be sound business.

There's a reason corporations almost always settle lawsuits (if they aren't dismissed).

[–] rtkwe 2 days ago

I'm not sure the rep damage actually spreads that far and given a hard enough push the business will be more than willing to spend a little bit of reputation for survival.

[–] lenerdenator 3 days ago

> Could be grounds for a lawsuit.

And?

Litigation is a rich man's game. Companies almost always have more resources to dedicate to litigation than individual employees, especially if those individual employees have been laid off and are now without an income.

The company knows this, the employees know this, the company knows the employees know this, and vice-versa.

[–] JustResign 3 days ago

> The company knows this, the employees know this, the company knows the employees know this, and vice-versa.

Okay, so how many nights until the blue-eyed employees all leave the company? :p

[–] WalterBright 3 days ago

The employees can (and do) hire attorneys on contingency.

[–] tux3 3 days ago

A promise like that just isn't binding, things can change in 2 years, the managers themselves may have moved and been replaced with different people. A bird in the hand is worth many birds three years from now.

[–] IAmBroom 3 days ago

Management at a certain level speaks with the legally binding authority of the company. Management at any level carries some legal authority.

You can't say, "Well, we hired a new CEO, so all those old agreements are null and void."