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Wrong. Read up on WARN. There are conditions where an employer is required to give warning and others where no notice is required.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worker_Adjustment_and_Retraini...

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As the other responder stated, even in cases where this law applies the employer can opt for "pay in lieu of notice". So 60 days severance pay obviates the notification requirement. That aside, there are a lot of scenarios where this doesn't apply (e.g. "If 50 to 499 workers lose their jobs and that number is less than 33 percent of the employer’s total, active workforce at a single employment site"). I'm not going to pretend to have numbers to back it up, but especially in the software industry this exemption seems like it would cover a fair number of layoffs.

Aside from the many ways to get exceptions, this little nugget....

>An employer who violates the WARN provisions is liable to each employee for an amount equal to back pay and benefits for the period of the violation, up to 60 days.

...pretty much says companies can do what they want. For a lot of these folks, that's a severance.

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