Axed Meta Employees Say They May Receive Only Half Of Promised Severance Pay

Some Meta employees who lost their jobs during the tech company's mass layoffs last month have said they may not receive the severance package that CEO Mark Zuckerberg had promised when he announced the job cuts.

The CEO promised a generous severance package, which includes 16 weeks of base pay, for the 11,000 employees who were laid off by the company in November.

However, several members of the tech giant's Sourcer Development Program revealed they were told they would receive only eight weeks of base pay, CNBC reported.

In April, workers were hired for Meta's Sourcer Development Program, which is a 12-month project, as short-term employees who received the same benefits as full-time employees. It was promised that after completing the program, the short-term employees would be converted into full-timers if they met Meta's criteria, people who were previously part of the project told CNBC.

The employees further revealed they would receive only three months of health coverage.

Zuckerberg, in his letter to employees, had said workers affected by the mass layoffs would get 16 weeks of base pay and six months of health coverage for employees and their families.

The laid-off workers wrote a letter to Zuckerberg and Meta executives in mid-November, saying their "former managers insisted we were confused" regarding the severance package issue, CNBC reported.

"We understand that we are employed at-will and that business needs are always evolving and changing, but we couldn't help but feel maybe there had been a mistake," the group said in the letter.

They hoped the cut in the severance package was "a clerical mistake and was not done with intentional disregard or callousness." However, Meta has not yet replied to the letter, the report said.

Zuckerberg previously said he would take "full responsibility" for the mass layoffs at Meta while addressing the employees, according to a leaked video.

Several employees reportedly took to the anonymous forum Blind to air their grievances following the layoffs.

A senior software developer complained Zuckerberg "will single-handedly kill a company with the meta-verse," Business Insider reported.

One person, who claimed to be a senior technical program manager, wrote that "poor leadership is on track to sink this ship." Another user said while Meta offered "good pay," there was "no accountability at and above Director level."