If you are in a protected class (determined by race, age, etc), this raises the ante quite a bit. You have up to 21 days to decide your options and sign documents.
Either way, think about talking to a lawyer. Like plumbers, doctors, insurance companies and other professionals dealing in catastrophe, they seem an unecessary expense until its too late. But to get a flavor of why, I'll include a few great thoughts on this subject c/o CNN:
Maybe you'll want more money, longer health insurance coverage, a good letter of reference or a narrower scope of competitors on a non-compete agreement. There's no guarantee you'll get what you ask for, but there's a fair shot you'll get more than that's initially offered.
So the question is, "How much is it worth to them?" Answer: potentially more than the initial offer. Sklover suggests you ask the following five questions:
- Have you ever received assurances that your job would continue or that you're due special remuneration?
- Has anyone violated your rights?
- Has anyone said anything defamatory about you?
- Do you think you're being let go unfairly?
- Do you or your family have special needs?
Chances are, if it's a mid-sized to large company, it can afford to pay. Any firm bracing for layoffs budgets for the experience and then puts more money in reserve to cover unforeseen expenses, Sklover said. "They calculate how much it will cost them and add extra just in case you come along and know what you're doing."
3 comments:
Is there some sort of gag order going on among managers in Microsoft? I've been reaching out to folks, some of whom will only speak to me on the phone or refuse to use corp email to communicate.
Also, is anyone seriously considering not signing severance?
Depends on your definition of "gag order". Being a manager there means you always have to carefully filter what you communicate; I was told by several managers that they were given a few additional instructions, but they're all pretty much what you wold probably expect: lead by example, keep yourself positive, avoid saying or doing anything that will further bring down morale, etc.
I couple of examples I've received from managers:
My manager (who did not have a hand in my layoff and who was genuinely very sad), first told me that they would provide me with a glowing letter of recommendation, and so would my skip-level manager. Later that day my manager came and apologized and told me they were instructed by a higher level manager that they were not allowed to provide letters of recommendation or references f any kind (a dictate from LCA, they said). Later that day, my skip level manager came and in hushed, conspiratorial tones, said he would give me recommendations if I called him at home, but not via corporate email. He gave me his home phone number (on paper, not electronically) and said he had some contacts on the outside that might b worth following up with.
Here thing thing to remember: managers are incredibly paranoid. They have good reason to be. They are succeeding there, they don't want to screw that up. Is their email routinely being monitored? I doubt it - there's too much email to monitor effectively. But everything you send through the corporate email is backed-up, and if something comes up (like a legal dispute over an employee's layoff), it's a pretty good bet that al email to/from that employee might get a look. There is an awful lot of CYA going on, this is just part of it.
Remember that your manager is probably worried about their job now, too. If it comes down to acting carefully to protect their family, or dashing off an email from their work account to a laid off employee that might get them in hot water....which choice do you think they're going to make?
As to not signing the severance package...I haven't even read it yet. I suppose I'll go over it sometime this week. I'm sure I'm like most others: I don't know of any reason not to sign it, and I'm skeptical of any success trying to beat Microsoft in any kind of legal battle.
To Blogger-
Not sure if you have a different severance package, but I need to have my signed Severance Agreement and Release back by EOD tomorrow, Jan 29. If I don't, I forefit my my severance. I would hate for anyone to lose the severance thinking that have more time to review it.
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