4 ms·

The severance package was described as spectacular. A spectacular severance can be life-changing. I understand, the details are important, and can't be shared,

The severance package was described as spectacular. A spectacular severance can be life-changing. I understand, the details are important, and can't be shared, but if it truly is as good as described, she's probably way way better off than if she'd stayed at Netflix. If all she did with that severance was go back to school and finish a four-year degree, then she'd absolutely kill it in the job market with her track record. Very possibly double her salary.

e12e 10y ago
Reading the article, after browsing the comments, I assumed the article would appear somehow employee-hostile. While, looking from Norway, the concept of at-will work states like California seems crazy -- if you're already in the situation that you can fired for basically no reason -- this sounds like a pretty good deal. At least if they make good on the idea of "spectacular severance packages" and the honesty and communication goes two ways. I do note that they don't trust their storage/stock workers as much, and she kind of glosses over that bit. I don't understand why people would expect any loyalty from California-based tech companies, is there any precedence for that? I thought the entire business was generally based on pretty predatory hiring and firing practices? As if the colluding on salaries scandal wasn't enough of a hint?
- blackguardx 10y ago
  It is not just California, the whole US. California has some of the best labor laws here.
  - e12e 10y ago
    But not all states are at-will states? Some states you actually need a reason to fire someone? Or so I thought?
    - ryanbrunner 10y ago
      It's not quite as simple as states being either "at-will" or "not at-will". Every state in the U.S. is to at least some degree an "at-will employment" state, although different states will have different exceptions. At a bare minimum level, all states except 7 recognize public policy exceptions to at-will employment (firing employees for doing something compliant with public policy, like filing a disability claim). At a "getting further away from pure at-will employment" level, 11 states require employers to act in good faith when firing employees (which basically excludes malicious firings)
      - dragonwriter 10y ago
        > At a bare minimum level, all states except 7 recognize public policy exceptions to at-will employment (firing employees for doing something compliant with public policy, like filing a disability claim). And even if a state doesn't, the federal government does, so there are always public policy exceptions.
    - pandaman 10y ago
      I think you are confusing employment-at-will and right-to-work+. Some states are right-to-work, all are at-will. (+ it is about laws regulating unions, not literal rights to work.
caseysoftware 10y ago
Not only that, but read about Laura. She was their bookkeeper from early on through their IPO. Odds are she had a good amount of stock options. Maybe not "now I have a gulf stream life changing" but if she held onto some portion of them, she's doing pretty well. Conveniently enough, someone calculated this last year using their IPO value, not the internal strike price: http://www.investopedia.com/articles/active-trading/081315/if-you-invested-right-after-netflixs-ipo.asp http://www.investopedia.com/articles/active-trading/081315/i...

e12e 10y ago

Reading the article, after browsing the comments, I assumed the article would appear somehow employee-hostile. While, looking from Norway, the concept of at-will work states like California seems crazy -- if you're already in the situation that you can fired for basically no reason -- this sounds like a pretty good deal. At least if they make good on the idea of "spectacular severance packages" and the honesty and communication goes two ways. I do note that they don't trust their storage/stock workers as much, and she kind of glosses over that bit. I don't understand why people would expect any loyalty from California-based tech companies, is there any precedence for that? I thought the entire business was generally based on pretty predatory hiring and firing practices? As if the colluding on salaries scandal wasn't enough of a hint?

blackguardx 10y ago
It is not just California, the whole US. California has some of the best labor laws here.
- e12e 10y ago
  But not all states are at-will states? Some states you actually need a reason to fire someone? Or so I thought?
  - ryanbrunner 10y ago
    It's not quite as simple as states being either "at-will" or "not at-will". Every state in the U.S. is to at least some degree an "at-will employment" state, although different states will have different exceptions. At a bare minimum level, all states except 7 recognize public policy exceptions to at-will employment (firing employees for doing something compliant with public policy, like filing a disability claim). At a "getting further away from pure at-will employment" level, 11 states require employers to act in good faith when firing employees (which basically excludes malicious firings)
    - dragonwriter 10y ago
      > At a bare minimum level, all states except 7 recognize public policy exceptions to at-will employment (firing employees for doing something compliant with public policy, like filing a disability claim). And even if a state doesn't, the federal government does, so there are always public policy exceptions.
  - pandaman 10y ago
    I think you are confusing employment-at-will and right-to-work+. Some states are right-to-work, all are at-will. (+ it is about laws regulating unions, not literal rights to work.

caseysoftware 10y ago

Not only that, but read about Laura. She was their bookkeeper from early on through their IPO. Odds are she had a good amount of stock options. Maybe not "now I have a gulf stream life changing" but if she held onto some portion of them, she's doing pretty well. Conveniently enough, someone calculated this last year using their IPO value, not the internal strike price: http://www.investopedia.com/articles/active-trading/081315/if-you-invested-right-after-netflixs-ipo.asp http://www.investopedia.com/articles/active-trading/081315/i...