J Tyran said:
Binnsyboy said:
JemothSkarii said:
Yes, I'm sure he resigned much like I did; 'Resign or be fired'.
Sounds a hell of a decision to make. Resign so you're not fired from a job that future employers will be aware of, or be fired so he can actually have a severance package...
People in the US get severance pay if they are fired for misconduct? Thats interesting, I suppose this guy might have got something for resigning anyway if only to get him out the door.
No, you don't get severance when you get fired.
Severance is meant to be compensation for the loss of employment due to factors that the employee had no control over. It generally happens for layoffs, not firings or resignations.
A lot of people confuse firing with being laid off, but they're very different.
The reason you don't get severance when you get fired is that 'firing' typically means your employer terminated your employment for cause (you did something wrong), and they don't feel they owe you anything beyond what you've already earned.
Quitting a job is similar, except it's the employee who makes the decision to leave (usually because they are unhappy with the employer), and the employer likewise has no duty to provide anything beyond what the employee has already earned. There are exceptions but they're pretty unusual and almost always come about after lots of legal slapfighting.
Resignation is slightly different from all of the above: the employee isn't 'forced' to do it (like a layoff or firing) and the employer may provide some sort of compensation in return depending on the circumstances, but they're not required to since the employee is technically the one who decided to leave.
Of course 'resignation' nowadays almost always means that the employee was going to get fired anyway but might have grounds to make a messy legal fight of the issue, so the employer decided to throw some sort of compensation at the employee in exchange for leaving peacefully. Still not really considered severance so much as a pre-emptive settlement.
