alt Hacker News> The service to get a severance has been provided prior to termination
And here is the root of your misunderstanding.
You seem to be under the impression that because some companies occasionally scale severance based on tenure, it's comp for work already performed. Severance is like tipping in that it's not required at all.
Keeping one's mouth shut is a service. They're paying for it. So would be not competing with the company, if it were legal to enforce. Not sure why you think otherwise, just your personal vibes I guess? Maybe look up what an economic "service" is.
Maybe you're confused because as you say, no one has ever offered you money to keep your mouth shut?
This service only gets paid for when the recipient has credible things to say.
Similarly, some people get paid tons of money to just say their opinion, and here you are doing that labor for free too. The people getting paid have valuable information to offer, which someone else either does or does not want shared.
>Severance is like tipping in that it's not required at all.
Great comparison. Tipping is also a form of compensation for work already performed.
It's not required in the legal sense indeed. It is, effectively, required in every other sense. It's a basic expectation of a reasonable customer.
Positions where tipping is expected (e.g. waiters) typically have lower wages; furthermore, in the US, the minimum wage for waiters is lower because of that.
Tips are compensation, as in: payment for work. It is the part of the compensation that you can refuse to pay and not have the cops called on you.
Severance is like that indeed, except you're asking the server to hereafter refer to you as "daddy".
>So would be not competing with the company, if it were legal to enforce.
See, you understand that some things (like "not competing") aren't considered "services" that you can sign a contract to "perform" in exchange for severance.
"Not disparaging", in my opinion, belongs in the same category for the same reasons.
>Maybe look up what an economic "service" is.
Please provide a definition according to which not disparaging constitutes a service.
I wonder what definition you're using, because it makes blackmail a "service" (you're paying me for not to beat you up, see).
>Maybe you're confused because as you say, no one has ever offered you money to keep your mouth shut?
I've signed NDAs and signed severances with "non-disparagement" clauses in the past, so I understand the concept full well.
But come on. You're conflating legal and moral arguments, as well as legality and reality.
>The people getting paid have valuable information to offer, which someone else either does or does not want shared.
This is not what non-disparagement is. It's not restricting factual statements.