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Comment by emgeee | Hacker News Reader

Dang, no severance or healthcare is really brutal and signals to me they probably should have called it earlier.

> Dang, no severance or healthcare is really brutal

When NCC Group fired me, they gave me zero days notice and no severance.

They did emphasize that my healthcare would stay good through the end of the month, but they didn't seem to have realized that I would be unlikely to find that useful after being fired on October 31.

Probably to fix that would need legislation specific to start-ups.

I would hope most employees know that is a significant risk of working at a startup?!

But yes, harsh, regardless of how predictable.

A better fix would be for people to see their health insurance divorced from their employer. That would actually greatly benefit startups and be one step back from corporate serfdom.

U.S. tax law needs to change for this to happen. Individual health care should be totally tax deductible (the way it is for businesses) or should not be tax deductible at all for business (a small step in this direction by the Obama Administration was vilified as a "Cadillac Tax"

If proper single payer is out of the question, the biggest mistake in Obamacare is that employer-sponsored health plans remained legal. Everyone should have been forced into the same market.

Why specific to startups? Everyone deserves some leeway during layoffs, having a minimum severance for everyone is pretty basic stuff.

Also, healthcare shouldn't be employer provided.

Because startups are expected to fail, and VCs won't "waste" money unless they are forced to so they will leave the business with $0. Without legislation VCs won't assign any money for post-failure employee costs.

Running concern businesses don't have quite the same incentives nor the same risks of failure.

At least nobody will be around to fight against unemployment claims.

Unfortunately, in Washington state, benefits adjudication is currently sitting at around 10-14 weeks before you'll see your first check.

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