Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Laid off by Big Tech, then recruited for contract work – at the same place

seattletimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 144 posts

Re: Laid off by Big Tech, then recruited for contract work – at the same place

#81

Post by pkrotich »

speedgoose wrote: post #48

I’m not a lawyer, but I have a vague idea about my rights and firing people to hire them as contractors instead is illegal in both jurisdictions I know, France and Norway. Firing people to hire contractors instead is risky because you need a reason to fire people. The reason could be economical, but one could easily argue in court that if the company is hiring contractors instead, well, it was not the real reason. Th…

Not when it’s at-will employment. You don’t need a reason to fire anyone in most states in US. Only exceptions are protected things like because of gender or race etc - but that is even blurry to prove it.

Unions are the only protection but companies do everything to burst unions e.g Starbucks and Amazon.

Re: Laid off by Big Tech, then recruited for contract work – at the same place

#82

Post by dogma1138 »

OJFord wrote: post #76
blibble wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Also in the UK contractors are paid a lot more than full time staff! low level staff maybe the big earners in UK finance are employees contractors don't get a bonus

Certainly industry dependent. OP is about 'big tech' though, not finance (proper fintech aside I suppose). I think 'contractors are paid more' generally (and in fairness somewhat necessarily) ignores that it's to compensate for other employee benefits. But it's ultimately a kind of pointness/trivial truth - 'the value of holiday and sick leave and job security and life assurance and pension contributions and [...] is…

It’s also true in general tech once you get to director or senior manager grade your short and long term incentive plans can be 50% of your BP and your BP isn’t going to be too shabby either.

Contractors do get paid more but they don’t earn more at least not anymore after IR35 since they have a tax rate that is over 50% as they are also liable for the 15.5% employer national insurance contributions now.

Overall contractors are far cheaper in the UK even at day rates of over £1000 and replacing people that earn high 5 to low six figures.

They aren’t paid any bonus, there is no pension contribution there are no benefits and there is no liability for redundancy.

Re: Laid off by Big Tech, then recruited for contract work – at the same place

#83

Post by kingrazor »

Back in October the company contracting me decided to terminate my contract. I then got picked up by a different contract, through the same agency, with the same company, just with a different role and at a different campus, with a pay bump. It's been a weird year.

Re: Laid off by Big Tech, then recruited for contract work – at the same place

#84

Post by qbasic_forever »

speedgoose wrote: post #48

I’m not a lawyer, but I have a vague idea about my rights and firing people to hire them as contractors instead is illegal in both jurisdictions I know, France and Norway. Firing people to hire contractors instead is risky because you need a reason to fire people. The reason could be economical, but one could easily argue in court that if the company is hiring contractors instead, well, it was not the real reason. Th…

The US has no such laws or restrictions. The only restrictions for firing in the US are with discrimination of protected classes.

Re: Laid off by Big Tech, then recruited for contract work – at the same place

#85

Post by jlund-molfese »

trilbyglens wrote: post #72
speedgoose wrote: post #48

I’m not a lawyer, but I have a vague idea about my rights and firing people to hire them as contractors instead is illegal in both jurisdictions I know, France and Norway. Firing people to hire contractors instead is risky because you need a reason to fire people. The reason could be economical, but one could easily argue in court that if the company is hiring contractors instead, well, it was not the real reason. Th…

Employees have basically no rights at all in the US. We started the labor movement, and have completely given up all rights over the last 70 years. It's a shame really.

If you really don’t know about your rights as an employee, you should be aware that US workers have many rights guaranteed by law.

Not as much protection as west Europeans, maybe! But the other side of the coin is that it’s so much easier to get hired, or start a business in the US. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/workers

Re: Laid off by Big Tech, then recruited for contract work – at the same place

#86

Post by anonymouskimmer »

hinkley wrote: post #74
anonymouskimmer wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you have a pension as an employee? Significant stock options?

Nobody in America has a pension, and half the people who think they do are in for a rude surprise later on. Boeing phased out their pension eligibility back in the mid 00’s as I recall.

Exactly around the time the GP was laid off and brought back as a contractor.

I have a pension. It's guaranteed because it's a state government job and state governments in the USA are constitutionally forbidden from abrogating contracts (the Contract Clause, yeah, sure, there are exceptions, but this is unlikely to be one of them).

To fund it they spend 23% of my salary (some taken out of my salary, some additionally funded by them).

Re: Laid off by Big Tech, then recruited for contract work – at the same place

#87

Post by hinkley »

RajT88 wrote: post #5

I know people who got laid off at my company who are trying to stay tied into that company however they can. If you're a contractor for now, fine. You still get to maintain and build new connections to try to get back into an FTE role later on, hopefully at the end of the day this being a minor speedbump in your career. I can appreciate the thinking. I might actually choose that path if it happens to me.

Game company people probably, but also any company that has large but distinct initiatives that come and go over time. Boeing gathers and scatters people all the time. Each airplane is a different project. Seniority and longevity perks like extra vacation are cumulative.

when they phased out the pension plan you could still qualify if your original start date was before some arbitrary date, so there was some confusing stuff where new people were not eligible but some people were still getting into it.

Re: Laid off by Big Tech, then recruited for contract work – at the same place

#88

Post by kvdveer »

mistermann wrote: post #35
rhtgrg wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you elaborate on this? What event are you referring to?

I've noticed that the natives are becoming increasingly restless...perhaps the winds of revolution are picking up?

I'm having a hard time seeing any of this from across the Atlantic. Could you elaborate or link to some source?

Re: Laid off by Big Tech, then recruited for contract work – at the same place

#89

Post by hinkley »

tasubotadas wrote: post #79
trilbyglens wrote: post #69

I love all the Europeans here that think anyone has job protection in the US in any way :)

Fewer protections, more opportunities.

Some people turn “opportunity” into a four letter word

Re: Laid off by Big Tech, then recruited for contract work – at the same place

#90

Post by slaw »

bjornsing wrote: post #42

It’s funny how in Sweden it’s exactly the other way around: Coming back as a (self-employed) contractor is like hitting the jackpot, you typically double your pay. Companies here even have policies to prevent employees switching over to contracting (for the same company). You have to work for some other company for at least a year.

In Seattle going as contractor means making $150k instead of $300k. Does contracting in Sweden pay double? $600k? Or as a contractor you make half what Seattle contractor is making.
Post reply on HN