Also, in combination with possible constructive dismissal, the company is possibly defaming the employees in a way that predictably adversely affects their ability to gain new employment. And there may be other potential problems that aren't apparent to me, since I'm not a lawyer.

Talking to a lawyer about this is low-effort, low-risk. You get a lawyer's name from friend/family or another kind of lawyer you know, or you call the local bar association referral service (or, if poor, maybe go first to a law school free clinic near you, to see what resources they can point you at). Then you get a free initial consultation with an actual lawyer, who can tell you whether they think you might have a case.

That's all I have to say on this topic.

(Side Note: You might have been discussing this from a standpoint of Someone Is Wrong On The Internet, and you want to help more people understand At-Will, for example. I can understand that. But I was discussing this from a standpoint of Don't Screw Over Vulnerable People By Discouraging Them From Talking To A Lawyer When I Think They Should.)

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Aurornis 5 days ago | parent | next [-]

> the company is possibly defaming the employees in a way that predictably adversely affects their ability to gain new employment. And there may be other potential problems that aren't apparent to me, since I'm not a lawyer.

Why is it that the "I'm not a lawyer, but" comments are always giving the worst legal advice?

There is no defamation case anywhere in this situation.

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neilv 5 days ago | parent | next [-]

> There is no defamation case anywhere in this situation.

They said they were terminating lots of people for poor performance, while terminating lots of people.

And there's plausible reason to suspect, given the frenzy of headcount reductions going on, that it wasn't actually for poor performance.

> Why is it that the "I'm not a lawyer, but" comments are always giving the worst legal advice?

Why are a couple people on an epic tour de force of commenting, energetically telling people to definitely don't talk to a lawyer about any possible wrongdoing by this company?

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JustExAWS 4 days ago | parent [-]

I literally just got let go from AWS two years ago in the midst of hundreds of layoffs. Absolutely no one cared why I wasn’t there anymore or even asked. I had four interviews and three offers within two weeks.

Even more relevant, one of my former coworkers at AWS who was now a director at a well known public non tech company knew I was going through the focus -> PIP process and encouraged me to stay until I made it through my next vest, got offered severance and said call him when it happens and if I’m interested he will either make a permanent position for me if possible or at least give me a very lucrative contract. He didn’t even care and he knew I was getting PIPd

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neilv 4 days ago | parent [-]

I'm glad that worked out for you. In this other case, a company publicly announced that people were being fired for low performance.

Even if the colleagues of a given person knew/suspected that the person was a good worker, everyone else hiring at other companies doesn't, and they heard what the last employer said.

	▲	JustExAWS 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		You don’t think that everyone in the industry who hires doesn’t know how these things work? Absolutely no one who interviews or screen candidates think less of someone who gets laid off these days. There are tens of thousands who have been laid off in the industry since 2022.

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johnnyanmac 5 days ago | parent | prev [-]

I'm not a lawyer, so I'm not going to say either way. See a lawyer if you're impacted and see what they say. Don't take legal, medical, nor relationship advice from the internet.

	▲	scarface_74 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		It’s getting to a point where it’s like you’re saying that I’m not a physicist but you might need to ask one before you jump off of a 25 story building, you might survive.

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JustExAWS 5 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Who said anything about defamation? My n=1 experience at BigTech is that they won’t say anything about why an employee left and you don’t even talk to a human to confirm dates of employment. They redirect you to TheWorkNumber (a real website).

I was Amazoned in 2023 and in none of the five interviews I had within the next two weeks did they ever ask why I left Amazon. I did get LinkedIn recommendations from my former managers there - ie not my then current one.

And we are talking about well paid Microsoft employees who are asked to come into the office. Cry me a river these aren’t “vulnerable” low paid wage slaves.

Yes I work remotely and if I had still been working at Amazon when they announced their “field by design” roles were being forced into RTO six months before it happened, I would have been interviewing and taken the pay cut.

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nradov 5 days ago | parent | prev [-]

You're not making any sense. Who is being defamed in this hypothetical scenario, and how?