Qualcomm has been thriving on importing and abusing low-cost H1-B workers as replacement for their older age workers. If they "layoff" employees, they wouldn't legally be able to get new H1-B workers in the future because they wouldn't be able to make the case to the immigration authorities that they were short of US workers. Moreover, if they "layoff", they would have to pay a severance package to the employee which would cost them. They would also run the risk of the employee bringing a lawsuit against Qualcomm for wrongful termination. For this reason, they would try very hard to eliminate employees in other manners that could not be labeled as "layoff". They would put all their effort into creating a condition where the employee would "resign" on his own. Then they wouldn't have to pay the employee any severance pay and they would not face any legal risk. One method to accomplish this is to "to work the employee out". They give the employee an assignment that is impossible to complete and make him work hard and fruitlessly until the he gets exhausted and leaves on his own. If this method doesn't work, then they "PIP him out". This is accomplished by artificially lowering his performance grade and putting him on PIP. Then they give him an assignment that is impossible to complete in the given time, or is outside of his area of specialization, or has dependency on another group to deliver. This gives HR the justification to terminate the employee and if it comes to a lawsuit, they would claim that they gave the employee a chance to improve, but that he did not "perform". To PIP an employee out, they will first encourage him to either resign on his own or go on PIP. HR would threaten that if employee doesn’t agree to either one, they would terminate him for insubordination. If he resigns, HR will be happy because they wouldn’t have to pay him any severance payment, he could not make any legal claim against Q, would not be eligible for unemployment benefits because he has "voluntarily resigned", and his health insurance will cease at the end of the month. If the employee decides to go on PIP, he gives them a chance to fabricate more bogus evidence against him in the manner which I described. Remember that no one has survived PIP in the past. Then they will terminate the employee at the end of PIP and will use the fabricated evidence in case he brings a lawsuit. HR will even be happier in this case because they wouldn’t have to pay the employee any severance payment, he could not make any legal claims, would not be eligible for unemployment benefits because he has been "fired", his health insurance will cease at the end of the month, and Qualcomm could extract another month of intense work from the doomed employee which thinks if he worked harder he would survive. I strongly encourage you to document all your accomplishments, deliveries, and your working condition in fine details and be prepared to confront HR if they try to put you on an unjustified PIP. You may even want to wear a concealed recording device when talking with HR or your managers. Note that this is legally admissible because your purpose is to prove a wrongdoing. Make sure to keep a copy of your evidence in a safe place because once you start to dispute and resist, they will put you on an administrative leave and will cut off your access to your emails and records. If you prove that you have a case against them, they will offer you their standard package which is 2-month of pay. In return, they will ask you waive all your rights to sue them. The 2-month pay does not depend on the number of years of your service, however, it is negotiable based on how strong of a case you have compiled against them. The payment is proportionate to the degree of risk they perceive in getting involved in a lawsuit and worst of all, a class action one. After all, they exactly know how many labor laws they have been violating in their sweatshop every day and how much is at stake when they are exposed. Read the following posting for more info:
https://www.thelayoff.com/qualcomm/post/4927920346759168