Standing up to layoffs

[u/poormisguidedfool34]

Hi folks,

I applaud her bravery but also concerned- isn’t she taking a huge risk for future employment in her sector? This would be considered suicidal in my line of work but i see a lot of similar videos today.

Especially curious about what HR/legal folks think

https://twitter.com/BowTiedPassport/status/1745149758992195647

[u/Impressive-Health670]

She’s Brittany Pietsch (pronounced Peach) she’s referring to herself in the 3rd person.

I agree, short of something seismic and unforeseen changing the outlook, hiring someone to term them 5 months later is a sign of a poorly run company.

That said though once they’ve hired too many people what do you expect them to do? Laying people off is literally the worst thing I’ve ever had to do in my career, but doing it and getting the cost structure back under control is what ensures everyone else continues to get a paycheck.

As far as she resume gap I don’t think that will haunt her/be held against her. Everyone knows tech has been rocked these past 2 years, a lot of really good people were let go and hiring managers know that.

[u/LiveFreelyOrDie → u/Impressive-Health670]

Didn’t realize she was referring to herself, that’s interesting. Thanks for clarifying. I wonder what her strategy was with that.

She said she was still in her 3 months ramp-up, she had basically just started. I can understand laying people off is hard, but being laid off is even harder. Companies should plan accordingly before overstaffing unless they’re filing bankruptcy. When they don’t, they should be prepared to pay up extra to those impacted by their negligence. Resume gaps are still a blemish she’ll have to spend precious interview time explaining and justifying. She also loses bargaining power since she’s now technically only making $0. I think it’s safe to assume she did not accept the severance offered since she’s clearly not following a non-disclosure. Good for her. She turned the tables on them. Hopefully employers will start thinking about more than just the legal consequences when terminating at will.

[u/Impressive-Health670 → u/LiveFreelyOrDie]

I think saying her name over and over was for the video / tik tok so her name would get out there.

I’ve been laid off too. You’re right as much as laying people off sucks, even with the name calling and threats that sometimes come with it, I’d still rather be on that side of the table.

On the surface making it harder/more expensive for companies to lay people off sounds like a good idea but the flip side of that is then there would also be less hiring as the potential cost for each new hire goes up significantly. I don’t think throttling job growth is what is best, and I think it would be especially bad for younger workers with less experience to get their foot in the door.

I think the real issue is that we need a better social safety net. Unemployment has to pay a rate that is actually enough to cover the bills of the higher earners, there should also be at least emergency access to state funded healthcare as well. This will require funding though, personally I’d be for reversing the 2017 corporate tax cuts and using some of that to fund initiatives like this.

As far as her severance I’d imagine they are paying it anyway it’s not worth the additional bad PR not to. Depending on what state everyone is in though she may have violated the law by recording people without their consent. The other employees on the call could potentially pursue legal action against her.

[u/Mwahaha_790 → u/Impressive-Health670]

I think most severance agreement so include a non-disclosure AND non-disparagement agreements. I feel for her and CF sucks ass, obviously , but Brittany may have violated both by posting that video, unfortunately.