Oracle employee for 20 years laid off via email; has cancer and no health insurance — ‘Companies are evil’

Cloud computing firm Oracle on Tuesday began laying off its employees in a fresh round of job cuts, affecting thousands, via email and reportedly with no prior communication.

On Tuesday morning, like several other employees affected by the job cuts, a man who served the company for 20 years and is battling cancer also woke up to the termination email.

He now has no health insurance, and with just two years to retirement, his chances of landing another job are also very slim.

“My dad has worked for Oracle for 20 years, worked for the same boss for 20 years,” the user said. “Not even a phone call.”

“These companies are evil,” he exclaimed.

The user said that his father was laid off just 2 years before retirement. “What is he supposed to do for the next 2 years?”

The user also highlighted that his father has cancer, and now, with the layoff, he is left with no health insurance. “Keep in mind, he has cancer and now he has no health insurance.”

The user, in the comment section, shared that his father's severance package was just 26 weeks from his last payroll on 10 April. The Redditor also shared that the Oracle boss only texted their father, saying, “Read your email”

“We are grateful for your dedication, hard work, and the impact you have made during your time with us,” the company wrote, saying that the employees being terminated are eligible to receive a severance package “subject to the terms and conditions of the severance plan.”

The full extent of the cuts, which will affect employees globally, could not be immediately learned. But some reports have suggested that it may be as high as 20,000 and 30,000.

According to LinkedIn posts from laid-off employees, the cuts have affected staff across Oracle Health, Sales, Cloud, Customer Success, and NetSuite.

The layoffs come amid Oracle's steps to increase spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure in an effort to better compete with cloud rivals, such as Alphabet and Amazon.

“This is so disgusting, but we have to pay attention that these kinds of situations can happen when you live in a capitalist society,” a social media user said.

A user suggested pressuring Oracle into extending insurance. “Maybe you can pressure Oracle about insurance? Epic got public backlash for laying off a terminally ill brain cancer patient, and they sorted the insurance out afterwards. Maybe you can post on LinkedIn or something?”

“Time to lawyer up. IF others in his position were NOT eliminated he maybe able to show he was selected for the RIF because he had cancer and that is against the law,” another user suggested.

A netizen also suggested negotiating the severance package. “This might be an HR oversight, should be brought up or maybe negotiate the package so he is taken care of for the next two years.”