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

Telltale Employees Left Stunned by Company Closure, No Severance

kotaku.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 197 posts

Re: Telltale Employees Left Stunned by Company Closure, No Severance

#31

Post by bb88 »

tyingq wrote: post #22
slg wrote: post #15

The worst part for many of these people is that our country still links health insurance with your employer. It is bad enough to suddenly lose your job and primary source of income, but that type of thing is often unavoidable when a company goes belly up. However only getting a week's notice before all your health insurance benefits disappear is the type of thing that just shouldn't happen in this country.

Also notable that buying health insurance on your own, versus through your employer is typically 2 to 4x the cost.

I would assume that an actuary might put the cost of an unemployed person twice that than an employed person. Because technically people with chronic health problems would tend to be unemployed.

Re: Telltale Employees Left Stunned by Company Closure, No Severance

#32

Post by Domenic_S »

tyingq wrote: post #22
slg wrote: post #15

The worst part for many of these people is that our country still links health insurance with your employer. It is bad enough to suddenly lose your job and primary source of income, but that type of thing is often unavoidable when a company goes belly up. However only getting a week's notice before all your health insurance benefits disappear is the type of thing that just shouldn't happen in this country.

Also notable that buying health insurance on your own, versus through your employer is typically 2 to 4x the cost.

"Hello, cobra? I'd like to pay $1,300 for a month of health insurance"

Re: Telltale Employees Left Stunned by Company Closure, No Severance

#33

Post by pkaye »

secabeen wrote: post #25
tyingq wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also notable that buying health insurance on your own, versus through your employer is typically 2 to 4x the cost.

You can purchase your old benefit through FMLA for up to 36 months in an involuntary departure, but you pay 104% of the cost that previously was split between you and the employer.

What if your employer went bankrupt?

Re: Telltale Employees Left Stunned by Company Closure, No Severance

#34

Post by paxys »

bb88 wrote: post #31
tyingq wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also notable that buying health insurance on your own, versus through your employer is typically 2 to 4x the cost.

I would assume that an actuary might put the cost of an unemployed person twice that than an employed person. Because technically people with chronic health problems would tend to be unemployed.

Companies also get good rates because they can negotiate based on volume.

Re: Telltale Employees Left Stunned by Company Closure, No Severance

#35

Post by kevinh »

dogma1138 wrote: post #3

I wonder how much the closure was financial mismanagement vs their business model simply catching up to them. TTG shtick was essentially “emotional abuse simulators” all their games had one trick get you attached to characters and see them die with very little actual player control over it. They were one trick pony and the novelty wore off rather quickly. Their games also were based on expensive franchises and they o…

> TTG shtick was essentially “emotional abuse simulators” all their games had one trick get you attached to characters and see them die with very little actual player control over it.

Some of their games were like this, but others were not. The Tales from the Borderlands series and Guardians of the Galaxy series were primarily vehicles for comedy, and did not rely on the trope you're mentioning.

Re: Telltale Employees Left Stunned by Company Closure, No Severance

#36

Post by bb88 »

skh wrote: post #29
bb88 wrote: post #12

If you think about employment as a business transaction, then you should insist on "Cash Up Front", e.g. signing bonus, higher salary, or immediate stock ownership to offset your personal risk. Joining a company is more of a risk to you as an employee than it is to them in hiring you. Basically it comes down to asking for "Cash Up Front". Expecting a cash settlement on the backend of a failed business transaction is…

In an ideal world this would be feasible. Few people have the pricing power for their labor to do this. I'd classify what you call a failed business transaction as a failure of government to enact necessary labor laws.

So in a world where there's a glut of labor, you're absolutely right. We, however, are not in a glut of labor for software engineers and game designers.

And besides, if you explained to the employer the risks you forsee in joining their company, they will most likely understand that reason for asking for a higher salary than the norm.

Re: Telltale Employees Left Stunned by Company Closure, No Severance

#37

Post by Domenic_S »

bradford wrote: post #18

Anyone know what the unemployment benefits are like in CA? In WA state, "Unemployment benefits are made available through taxes paid by your former employer(s) to partially replace your regular earnings and help you meet expenses while you look for another job." Not sure what the situation is in CA but I'd hope that, in the absence of a severance package, there's something else that can help them land cleanly here...

$450/week maximum. There's a waiting period (2 weeks?) as well.

Re: Telltale Employees Left Stunned by Company Closure, No Severance

#38

Post by rootusrootus »

bb88 wrote: post #31
tyingq wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also notable that buying health insurance on your own, versus through your employer is typically 2 to 4x the cost.

I would assume that an actuary might put the cost of an unemployed person twice that than an employed person. Because technically people with chronic health problems would tend to be unemployed.

I would also suspect a significant part of the difference is that the company is likely subsidizing the premium cost.

Re: Telltale Employees Left Stunned by Company Closure, No Severance

#39

Post by WillPostForFood »

keerthiko wrote: post #28
slg wrote: post #15

The worst part for many of these people is that our country still links health insurance with your employer. It is bad enough to suddenly lose your job and primary source of income, but that type of thing is often unavoidable when a company goes belly up. However only getting a week's notice before all your health insurance benefits disappear is the type of thing that just shouldn't happen in this country.

Just another among 10s of reasons why healthcare shouldn't be left to the market. Lining up capitalist incentives with public health is incredibly hard -- the people who need more expensive treatment more badly are almost always the people who are less capable of affording it, for evident reasons: being invalid made them unable to work, being in poor conditions in the first place led to their health conditions, it's…

Interesting to note though, employer provided health insurance is a direct outcome of govt policy:

Most insurance in the first half of the 20th century was bought privately, but few people wanted it. In 1942, with so many eligible workers diverted to military service, the nation was facing a severe labor shortage. Economists feared that businesses would keep raising salaries to compete for workers, and that inflation would spiral out of control as the country came out of the Depression. To prevent this, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9250, establishing the Office of Economic Stabilization. This froze wages. Businesses were not allowed to raise pay to attract workers. Businesses were smart, though, and instead they began to use benefits to compete. Specifically, to offer more, and more generous, health care insurance. Then, in 1943, the Internal Revenue Service decided that employer-based health insurance should be exempt from taxation. This made it cheaper to get health insurance through a job than by other means.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/05/upshot/the-real-reason-th...

Re: Telltale Employees Left Stunned by Company Closure, No Severance

#40

Post by WillPostForFood »

dogma1138 wrote: post #3

I wonder how much the closure was financial mismanagement vs their business model simply catching up to them. TTG shtick was essentially “emotional abuse simulators” all their games had one trick get you attached to characters and see them die with very little actual player control over it. They were one trick pony and the novelty wore off rather quickly. Their games also were based on expensive franchises and they o…

Their games steeply declined in sales after the first Walking Dead. From selling many millions to the last few selling only a few hundred thousand in spite of high profile licenses like Batman.
Post reply on HN