alt Hacker NewsYes, we agree on how the legal system works. Should existing laws be reinterpreted or new laws passed such that severance is treated as compensation for work already performed, then the arguments you've been making will begin to hold merit.
Until then, statements building from "severance is compensation for past labor" are imagined theories about a hypothetical reality with different laws than the world we live in.
>Yes, we agree on how the legal system works
Indeed. It's also clear from the article.
Laws don't describe reality though. Severance is compensation for past labor in the real world, just not from a legal standpoint in the US.
In the same vein, I didn't purchase psychedelic mushrooms; I merely made a donation to the institution that subsequently dispensed them to me as a religious sacrament.
From a legal standpoint, it wasn't a sale.
From any other perspective grounded in reality, it was.