What are they gonna do if you refuse to sign? Fire you?
If this guy voluntarily left, then he wasn’t getting a severance package that they could withhold (and on that note, this is a good reason to include involuntary severence in your employment contract, if you can negotiate it).
For many, it’s the severance offered that makes them sign. If you’re about to lose your job, a few months pay, and free relocation back home if your visa is due to be cancelled is likely enough to make you sign something.
I’m not condoning it, at all. I think the practice is fucking disgusting, and have seen it wreck lives, but it’s a reality in many tech companies, including Google under Sundar.
But they’re not gonna offer severence to someone who quits, right?
The wording made it sound like he quit rather than got laid off.
My understanding is that while you’re 100% being terminated (and are ineligible for rehire) what you sign indicates that you’re actually volunteering to resign.
For more info on it, look up Amazon’s Focus and Pivot programs.
