
Ask HN: What was your severance package, if you recieved one? - giampo
Curious as to what&#x27;s the range of severance packages within our industry.<p>I&#x27;ve been at my company (public) for 2+ years now and wonder what is acceptable as we&#x27;re negotiating separation.
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davismwfl
It depends on what the company is asking for in exchange for the severance and
at what level you are at in the company. Assuming you have been there for say
3 years.

If you started as an entry level or new grad developer, than 1-3 months is
pretty common, and fair. If you were mid-level 3-5 years experience, than 1-4
months is not unreasonable depending on the reason for split. But remember, if
they are terminating you for a specific cause they may give you zero to 2
weeks.

If you are senior or held one or more critical rolls during your time, than it
is not unlikely they ask for some additional non-compete time or non-
disclosure time, especially if you were privy to current R&D or other key
company details. For that, they need to pay, and it should be reasonable to
the time period they are requesting. That doesn't mean they'll pay you for 2
years, but I would be more likely to ask a professional compensation
consultant or employment attorney for advice in this case if I wasn't sure.
Remember, if you are being let go, the company's attorney or a fairly senior
level HR person has been consulted so no harm in you getting advice too.

While generally not an issue in the engineering space, acceptance of a
severance package in the U.S. (IANAL so double check your specific state) will
prevent you from attaining unemployment benefits from the state. Again, fairly
uncommon in engineering type roles as people are really mobile. However, I
have had to let go of some people outside of engineering roles that took a
severance and then filed for unemployment months later. They were quite upset
when we challenged it and they were denied unemployment benefits. One of the
primary reasons you are getting severance is to prevent the company's
unemployment costs from rising.

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giampo
Thanks for the response man. In my situation it's actually mutual separation
since they gave me shady treatment, borderline discrimination.

What would your ballpark be for that? Not sure how much to negotiate for. I
have more than a decade of experience, albeit not a manager.

~~~
AnimalMuppet
Well, if they realize that they gave you shady treatment, that gives you more
leverage.

On the other hand, you don't want to push that too far. Don't burn bridges
with any of the people involved by how you handle this.

As far as concrete estimates of what to ask for - I don't know.

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giampo
The people kind of already burned the bridge with me themselves, but what can
you do. I was thinking 6 months severance and COBRA, since it'll take me time
to recover from this. But I wasn't sure if that's ludicrous compared to the
market.

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apohn
This is from medium sized US software company. As per standard employment
contract, 1 week pay per year worked. It was more generous for managers, but
that was the company being generous, not anything that was in the employment
contract. It's not a company most people have heard of.

Oddly enough, later in the year they made this incredibly stupid decision
where they hired a lot of people and fired all them during the orientation
week. Apparently those people got a really good severance package.

~~~
itronitron
I expect that part of the severance was agreeing not to participate in a
class-action lawsuit...

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giampo
You think the person that hired them is still there?

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apohn
With exception of one person (who left for a better job, not because they were
fired), the executive management that enabled that stupid decision is still
there. The people that did the actual hiring are mostly gone, but they were
just pawns in that situation.

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jason_slack
At one job I received 2 months, at another job it was just 2 weeks.

I read that it is common to get a month for every year you are employed with
the company. I don't know if this actually works out for anyone. It never has
me.

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giampo
what was the 2 months one? US?

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jason_slack
2 months was for a database tech company.

2 weeks was for a university job.

Yup, U.S.

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CyberFonic
My 2 data points, both after 2-3 years of working there:

At a multi-national, had to sign a NDA, 1/4 my annual salary.

At a smallish consultancy (it went bankrupt) 2 weeks pay six months later from
the liquidators.

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giampo
Thanks. In the first data point, do you mean you've received a lump sum? Was
this in the US?

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sjg007
You would get a lump sum that's taxed at 40%. Otherwise you can try to
negotiate to be on the payroll for 4months + healthcare. Also if in the US ask
for medical (COBRA) to be paid for.

~~~
giampo
Yeah my thinking is staying on payroll is better. I wanted COBRA too - I heard
some places just 'reimburse' you.. All I want is to have my healthcare
premiums paid. Did you ever get that?

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sjg007
Nope I never have. But the best time is to negotiate for it is when you're
hired. They are more likely to agree since they've already decided to hire
you. At separation, they've already decided they don't want you so the only
reason to offer it (besides being nice and humane) is b/c they'd be afraid of
a lawsuit. Execs, VPs and some directors negotiate this in their hiring
contracts as well. They call these golden parachutes. Some of the bigger
companies have this stuff in their company handbook. This is what you might
get by default e.g. 1 month for every year of employment etc... but it depends
on the company.

The problem is that most people think, hey I'm a hard worker and I'll never
get laid off, so they don't prepare in advance contractually. Otherwise you
take a big risk that you can just drop into another job.. That risk changes as
you get older and with the market. People harp on unions all the time but this
is something they do for its members.

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djellybeans
The last severance package I got was one weeks' worth of compensation. They
are an early stage startup, with about 15 employees and have existed for 3
years.

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moocow01
Every large corp Ive been at has been 2 months salary. This gets distributed
as a lump sum sometime after signing whatever they want you to sign.

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giampo
large corp as in the apples and googles?

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cm2012
3 months salary

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giampo
thanks man

