I can’t give more approval for this woman, she handled everything so well.
The backstory is that Cloudflare overhired and wanted to reduce headcount, rightsize, whatever terrible HR wording you choose. Instead of admitting that this was a layoff, which would grant her things like severance and unemployment - they tried to tell her that her performance was lacking.
And for most of us (myself included) we would angrily accept it and trash the company online. Not her, she goes directly against them. It of course doesn’t go anywhere because HR is a bunch of robots with no emotions that just parrot what papa company tells them to, but she still says what all of us wish we did.
(Warning, if you’ve ever been laid off this is a bit enraging and can bring up some feelings)
It is likely that firing her for ‘performance issues’ costs the company less than just firing her for whatever the actual reason would be.
Depends on the state and how they were hired. It could be unemployment benefits, penalties for breaking a contract, or to avoid being sued if they mostly fire people in a protected class. For the employee it is most likely severence or unemployment.
Using performance is a catchall way to avoid the possible negative outcomes for the company. All they have to do is use the metrics that result in firing the people they planned on firing anyway!
In all 50 states, firing someone with cause without cause to avoid paying them benefits is illegal.