Daniel Defense Lays Off Large Percentage of Its Workforce

[mac1911]

No severance package? That is truly horrible.

Really is it? I out side some high paid friends their severance package is laid out in their contracts.
I'm sure most of these jobs where at hire/fire/quit at will. Yes short notice sucks but im sure anyone of these workers could have quit with out notice.
Sucks they lost employment but as many said the boom is over for now. If any of these workers came on in the past 6-8 years they should have seen this coming at some point
I would be interested to see the percentage of laid of by pay and time on the job.
Seems big business likes to cut the top and bottom 10% then a little from the middle?
As far as no health care, I thought federal law came into play and coverage is extended for X amount of weeks upon termination of position.

 

[Rob Boudrie]

I'm sure most of these jobs where at hire/fire/quit at will.

I was at "at will" employee in the tech sector. My severance was one year pay and medical.

As far as no health care, I thought federal law came into play and coverage is extended for X amount of weeks upon termination of position.

COBRA requires that the company allow these employees to stay on the company plan, at their own expense, at a cost of 102% of the cost to the firm for 18 months.

 

[mac1911]

I was at "at will" employee in the tech sector. My severance was one year pay and medical.

COBRA requires that the company allow these employees to stay on the company plan, at their own expense, at a cost of 102% of the cost to the firm for 18 months.

Crazy ... I Guess I'm surrounded by the wrong employment positions. Very few people I know in the work force get such things as severance packages.
You get sick time and any vacation pay due and out the door you go. I would think your employees rule/handbook/agreement thing you sign has a lot of this stuff mentioned.
Sucks...I have no idea about the health care stuff.
Have not had my own plan in 17 years. When my last job offered health care if your position was terminated (not fired) our health care was good for 90 days then we had to either pay the full bill or get our own coverage.
Sucks one way or another.

 

[Apathesis]

What did you expect to happen after gun stores couldn't peddle any longer the mythical 500% bullet tax they falsely accused Obama of wanting to implement?

 

[spt_1955]

According to the DD press release ...... "Affected employees were offered health insurance continuation benefits "....

How nice of them to comply with Federal law (COBRA).

 

[spt_1955]

Crazy ... I Guess I'm surrounded by the wrong employment positions. Very few people I know in the work force get such things as severance packages.
You get sick time and any vacation pay due and out the door you go. I would think your employees rule/handbook/agreement thing you sign has a lot of this stuff mentioned.
Sucks...I have no idea about the health care stuff.
Have not had my own plan in 17 years. When my last job offered health care if your position was terminated (not fired) our health care was good for 90 days then we had to either pay the full bill or get our own coverage.
Sucks one way or another.

Most companies have their severance packages defined in writing. When I got laid off I got the same packaget hat very person laid off in the past got. When the company changed its policies it was only for new hires going forward.

Unfortunately COBRA requires that you pay the full premium at the company rate. THis will be less than individual private insurance rates however if you were getting a company subsidy on your premiums that will probably end and the cost will go up.

 

[42!]

I was at "at will" employee in the tech sector. My severance was one year pay and medical.

COBRA requires that the company allow these employees to stay on the company plan, at their own expense, at a cost of 102% of the cost to the firm for 18 months.

Must be nice. I got one month pay and they covered their 60% of the insurance for that month (basically they left me on the payroll for a month but I didn't have to work).

 

[noxin]

Crazy ... I Guess I'm surrounded by the wrong employment positions. Very few people I know in the work force get such things as severance packages.
You get sick time and any vacation pay due and out the door you go. I would think your employees rule/handbook/agreement thing you sign has a lot of this stuff mentioned.
Sucks...I have no idea about the health care stuff.
Have not had my own plan in 17 years. When my last job offered health care if your position was terminated (not fired) our health care was good for 90 days then we had to either pay the full bill or get our own coverage.
Sucks one way or another.

The things you are referring to are a minimum of benefits upon lay off, as required by law. A severance package is a nice way of saying thank you for years of service, but sometimes, there's not a whole lot the company can do.

I've been laid off twice. One time we were supposed to get a package, but the new owner dicked everyone over. I wish I had been part of the first round of cuts, they got weeks, if not months, of pay.
The second time, no package was offered for anyone as it was a startup, had burned through boatloads of money, and we all knew it was sinking. Didn't matter really as I had a contract gig before I left the parking lot and a couple of interviews lined up.

 

[DrBurnsides]

Kind of a dick move. No float period for bennies. Ouch. Sounds like they were flyin high for the rush with no plans for the lag.

 

[Rob Boudrie]

Crazy ... I Guess I'm surrounded by the wrong employment positions. Very few people I know in the work force get such things as severance packages

The game is played differently if you are in a business like tech where replacing a worker is very expensive, and laying off people without severance will cause everyone who remains to start looking for a job the next day. In this sort of situation, severance is really about convincing the people who remain that they don't need to jump ship ASAP.

The second time, no package was offered for anyone as it was a startup

Yup, one of the risks of a startup. Even if you have a contract guaranteeing severance in the event of termination, it's worthless if the company doesn't have the money to pay.

 

[Broc]

Sad the way they reportedly treated their employees.

Still, they make a good (if overpriced) rifles.

How they treated their employees says a lot about them.
They didn't even offer severance, and overnight layoff.

The company I work for announced a small number of layoffs for an area that is slowly dissapearing (expected).
The people get a month notice.
They can apply to other jobs in the company during that month.
If they don't find a job in the company during the month they get severance.

That's how it is done.

 

[allen-1]

I assume you mean a job fair for other firms to come in to meet layoffees.

I wonder if this layoff meets the criteria for an exemption from the notice requirement in the plant closing law. My guess is that DD is just taking a chance that nobody will be able to afford legal counsel to make it an issue.

1 - yes - fair was for "layoffees" only and prospective employers
2 - I have no idea.

 

[Caseyb829]

Can't cut your way to a profit

 

[peterthefish]

Can't cut your way to a profit

Not for nothing, but of course you can. If you’re a manufacturer and cyclical demand for your product has dropped while competition has increased, cutting unproductive labor costs can absolutely help you turn a profit. If those labor costs were going to pay employees making products that will sit on shelves, you’ll probably be better off matching your supply to current demand for your products.

Sure, there are other things you can do to increase demand or improve efficiency, but at the end of the day you can’t make a profit by making too much shit at a cost nobody wants to pay.

 

[boilermaker]

How they treated their employees says a lot about them.
They didn't even offer severance, and overnight layoff.

I have seen people know a layoff is coming and the week before the final day, get "hurt on the job" and file workman's comp. Not everyone is on the up and up like in your situation.

 

[imgone]

When my last job offered health care if your position was terminated (not fired) our health care was good for 90 days then we had to either pay the full bill or get our own coverage.

That falls to state law, in Massachusetts they are required by law to cover layed off or fired workers for 90 days. If it is a plant closing. not sure about small lay offs.

 

[Rob Boudrie]

That falls to state law, in Massachusetts they are required by law to cover layed off or fired workers for 90 days. If it is a plant closing. not sure about small lay offs.

There is also the federal WARN act: https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/termination/plantclosings

I worked for a tech company that had a history of layoffs with no notice and short severance. Funny thing - each layoff had been just under the limit needed to trigger the WARN act.

One day a VP let the cat out of the bag that the MA R&D site was being shut down, and the current layoffs were just part of the phase to do that. Suddenly, a few things happened:

• That VP was never seen again at the company (at least the MA office again)
• The president came into town to announce the closing, and tell everyone "we are giving you generous severance" (I think they gave severance in lieu of notice)
• The company added "project completion bonuses" for those working on projects they wanted to keep around a bit longer

 

[noxin]

Can't cut your way to a profit

Oh yes you can if the product/division is costing you more per dollar than you bring in. My current company shutdown a whole product line because it was costing 1.20 for every dollar it brought in. They tried to make it work for a couple of years and it just wasn't. They cut an entire office and almost all the staff associated with it. That step alone brought us to being profitable.

- They did offer severance for the immediate terminations
- They did have severance and retention bonus for the delayed terminations