Laid-off Oracle Workers Seek Better Severance, Rejected by Company

The Layoff Experience at Oracle

Oracle made headlines when it reportedly laid off between 20,000 and 30,000 employees on March 31. One of those affected shared their experience with CryptoLiveDaily. They described a strange feeling in their stomach as they tried to log into the company's virtual private network (VPN), only to find that their account no longer existed. After calling a friend, they discovered their Slack account had been deactivated.

The employee soon received an email confirming their role was terminated immediately. A few days later, they were offered severance terms, but these quickly became a point of contention. Oracle provided standard corporate layoff packages, offering four weeks of pay for the first year, plus one additional week per year of service, capped at 26 weeks. The company also covered one month of COBRA insurance.

However, there was a significant catch: Oracle did not accelerate the vesting of restricted stock units (RSUs) that were close to vesting. Employees who lost their jobs saw any unvested shares forfeited. This included stock granted as retention incentives or in place of salary increases tied to promotions.

One long-tenured employee lost $1 million in stock that was just four months away from vesting. RSUs made up about 70% of his compensation, according to Time. This loss left many employees frustrated, especially since stock compensation often makes up a large portion of tech workers' pay.

Remote Worker Classification and Legal Protections

Another issue arose from how Oracle classified its employees. Some laid-off workers found out they were classified as remote workers, which meant they didn’t qualify for protections under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act. This law requires companies conducting mass layoffs to give employees two months’ notice before termination.

By classifying employees as remote workers, Oracle could bypass the minimum location requirements needed to trigger the WARN Act. Some employees were unaware they were classified as remote workers because they worked near an office on a hybrid schedule.

Even if they were covered by the WARN Act, this did not necessarily extend their severance benefits. Oracle included the two-month WARN notice pay in its existing calculation of four weeks of pay plus one week per year of service.

Negotiation Efforts and Industry Comparisons

For a short time, a group of employees attempted to negotiate better terms with Oracle. According to a letter seen by CryptoLiveDaily, at least 90 people signed a public petition urging the company to match the terms offered by other big tech firms during mass layoffs related to AI.

For example, Meta’s severance package started at 16 weeks of base pay, plus two weeks for every year of employment, and covered COBRA for 18 months. Microsoft, which extended voluntary retirement offers to long-serving employees, provided accelerated stock vesting, a minimum of eight weeks’ pay, and an additional one to two weeks for every six months of service, depending on rank.

Cloudflare, which cut 20% of its workforce, offered lump sum severance equivalent to base pay through the end of 2026, healthcare coverage through the end of the year, and accelerated vesting of stock through August 15.

Despite these examples, Oracle declined to negotiate, according to an email seen by CryptoLiveDaily. The company presented a take-it-or-leave-it offer, leaving employees with little choice.

When asked about its severance terms, employee classification, and failed negotiation attempts, Oracle declined to comment.

This response is not surprising, especially for those who hoped to negotiate. It highlights the lack of protections for tech workers when the market shifts against them, despite the high pay and perks that come with being employed in the industry.