By Julie Bort
Publication Date: 2026-05-08 22:59:00
As has been widely reported, Oracle an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 people were laid off via email on March 31st.
One of the employees cut that day told TechCrunch about the experience: “I had this strange feeling in my stomach. I went to log into the VPN, and the VPN said, ‘This user no longer exists.’ Then I called my friend and asked, “Hey, can you see me in Slack?” And she said, ‘No, your account has been deactivated.'”
The person soon received an email stating that their role had been terminated immediately. The severance offer arrived a few days later. But Oracle’s terms would quickly become a point of contention – and some laid-off employees would fight back.
Oracle offered fairly standard Corporate America terms to laid-off employees. In exchange for signing a waiver of their right to sue, employees received four weeks of pay for the first year plus one additional week per year of service, up to a maximum of 26 weeks. The company also paid…
