I’m currently pregnant and was recently laid off. I was wondering if anyone here has been in a similar situation and tried negotiating their severance package. Just trying to understand if companies are generally open to reasonable discussions, especially around healthcare coverage or severance duration.
10 replies (most recent on top)
If you currently have Cisco medical benefits, you can probably open a case and get them to give you some additional months of grossed-up COBRA payments due to your pregnancy. Even if you're able to shift over to a spouses coverage and don't end up taking advantage of COBRA, the payments will be yours to keep. If you didn't already have Cisco medical when you were impacted, then you're not eligible to receive a COBRA payout anyway, so wouldn't recommend trying this.
I heard if you negotiate you go on a “do not rehire” list. Not sure if it’s a scare tactic but as someone mentioned above they’re not required - severance is a nice to have. Good luck with pregnancy- you will find a company that values you as a person and not just another number.
CISCO will do whatever local labor law required. In some countries, this condition is protected, and you will be laid-off after some time when the baby is born. However, to the best of my knowledge, US labor law does not have such protection.
They don't care about you, or the fact that you're pregnant.
They don't care if laying you off while you're pregnant puts added stress onto your current condition.
They don't care about your family, or its finances.
They see it as a smart business move to lay you off, with the added "bonus" to themselves of not having to pay out your future maternity leave, where you'd be taking off from work for months on end, while being paid by them.
They see this as a cost cutting measure, and they're not interested in negotiating with you.
You can give it a try, but don't expect to receive anything other than what you've already been offered. And don't expend too much time (and definitely not any money) on negotiating, because you're probably not going to hear anything further from them other than "Take it or leave it."
I know someone who appealed to the organization's HR lead and asked for mercy because of a sick fam member and it worked, they were not LR'd. This was a big LR abt 3 years ago. Worth a try. Good luck!
I believe you can immediately go on 3 month medical leave if you haven’t received your severance package. Will require a doctors note and legitimate condition such as a complication.
This delays your severance by 3 months.
Good luck with your baby.
I wish you well with your pregnancy, However, you will not be singled out for different treatment.
Lawyer up and they might talk. You need to know your rights and protections (all depends on what state/country you live in). If you go it alone, ask and all they can say is no.
Im sorry you have to deal with this while you’re pregnant. Not cool.
considering that companies are not obligated to pay out severance at all in the US, doubt you can negotiate for more than whatever you're already receiving
No, they will not bend the rules for one employee. If they do, they can be sued by other employees since it wouldn't be fair for other employees. Big corporations like Cisco don't bend the rules for one employee. If you were working at a startup, they probably would since they may have only a handful (5 to 10) of employees.