Oracle Refused Severance Negotiations After March 31 Layoffs, Workers Say

Oracle laid off an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 employees via email on March 31, and one employee told TechCrunch that they felt “a weird feeling in my stomach” after their VPN access and Slack account were revoked.

“Oracle is set to part ways with software developers as it enters a new era: one in which AI is an integral part of its product portfolio”

Le Monde Informatique

The TechCrunch account says the employee then received an email stating their role was terminated immediately, and a severance offer arrived a few days later.

Le Monde Informatique

Oracle’s severance terms described by TechCrunch included four weeks of pay for the first year plus one additional week per year of service, capped at 26 weeks, along with one month of COBRA insurance.

TechCrunch also said Oracle did not accelerate soon-to-vest restricted stock units, so any shares that hadn’t vested by the termination date were forfeited.

In parallel, NewsBytes reported that a group of at least 90 employees tried to negotiate with Oracle to match severance terms offered by other tech giants, but Oracle refused to negotiate and maintained a take-it-or-leave-it stance.

TechCrunch said some laid-off employees discovered that if they were classified as remote workers and didn’t work in a state with stronger worker provisions like California or New York, the company said they didn’t qualify for WARN Act protections.

The TechCrunch article explains that the WARN Act requires companies to give employees two months notice prior to letting them go when 50 or more people are impacted at one location, and it says classifying employees as remote workers can sidestep the minimum location requirements.

NewsBytes

NewsBytes reported that Oracle did not comment on its severance terms or the failed negotiation attempt when approached for clarification by TechCrunch.

In the same NewsBytes account, one long-term employee reportedly lost $1 million worth of stock just four months away from vesting, with RSUs accounting for about 70% of his compensation.

NewsBytes also described Oracle’s severance package as offering four weeks of pay for the first year plus one additional week per year of service, capped at 26 weeks, while excluding accelerated vesting for soon-to-vest RSUs.

TechCrunch said at least 90 people signed a public petition urging Oracle to match the terms of other big tech companies conducting mass layoffs in the name of AI, but Oracle declined to negotiate and treated the offer as take-it-or-leave-it.

“Oracle just rebuffed negotiation of severance terms by ex-employees What's the story Oracle recently laid off 20,000-30,000 employees via email on March 31”

NewsBytes

The TechCrunch comparison cited Meta’s severance package starting at 16 weeks of base pay plus two weeks for every year of employment and COBRA coverage for 18 months, while also citing Cloudflare’s lump sum severance equivalent to base pay through the end of 2026 and accelerated vesting of stock through August 15.

Startup Fortune said Oracle’s severance fight showed how tech workers are testing collective pressure as AI-era restructuring spreads across enterprise software, and it described Oracle as rejecting concerns over unvested RSUs.

Startup Fortune also said Oracle disclosed a fiscal 2026 restructuring plan with estimated costs of up to $2.1 billion, with most expenses tied to employee severance.

Le Monde Informatique reported that Oracle CEO Mike Sicilia said AI tools and their coding capabilities would pose a threat if they were not adopted, while also signaling that the transition would be accompanied by significant job cuts.