Oracle’s recent mass layoffs have drawn attention not only for the scale of the job cuts, but also for the severance terms offered to employees. Several former workers have now shared how they learned about losing their jobs and why some of them tried to push back against the company’s policies, reported Techcrunch.
As was widely reported, Oracle laid off an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 employees through emails sent on March 31. One affected employee told TechCrunch that they first realised something was wrong after being unable to access the company VPN. The employee said they had a strange feeling when the VPN showed that the user no longer existed. After checking with a colleague and learning that their Slack account had also been deactivated, the employee later received an email saying their role had been terminated immediately.
A severance offer arrived a few days later. Oracle offered employees four weeks of pay for the first year of service, along with one extra week for every additional year worked, capped at 26 weeks. The company also offered one month of COBRA insurance coverage in exchange for employees signing a release waiving their right to sue.
However, the severance package became a major concern for some workers because Oracle did not accelerate the vesting of restricted stock units (RSUs). Any shares that had not vested by the termination date were forfeited.
This reportedly affected even those who had received stock as retention incentives or as part of promotion-related compensation. According to Time, one long-serving employee lost nearly $1 million worth of stock that was only four months away from vesting. RSUs reportedly made up around 70% of that employee’s total compensation.
Some employees also said they discovered they had been classified as remote workers by Oracle. According to the company, workers classified this way and living outside states with stronger labour protections, such as California or New York, did not qualify for protections under the WARN Act.
The WARN Act requires companies carrying out mass layoffs to give employees two months’ notice before termination if 50 or more workers are affected at one location. By classifying employees as remote workers, the location requirement could reportedly be avoided.
Some employees said they were unaware they were considered remote workers because they lived near offices and worked in hybrid arrangements.
A former Oracle employee also said that even workers covered under the WARN Act did not necessarily receive additional severance. According to the employee, Oracle included the two months of WARN notice pay within its existing severance formula of four weeks plus one week per year of service.
For a brief period, a group of laid-off employees attempted to negotiate collectively with Oracle. According to a letter seen by TechCrunch, at least 90 people signed a public petition asking the company to offer terms similar to those provided by other major tech firms conducting layoffs linked to AI-related restructuring.
According to an employee quoted by TechCrunch, Oracle declined to negotiate and treated the process as a take-it-or-leave situation.
When asked about its severance terms, employee classifications, and the failed negotiations, Oracle declined to comment, reported TechCrunch.
The developments have highlighted concerns about worker protections in the tech industry, especially during large-scale layoffs, despite the high salaries and stock-based compensation often associated with the sector.