Thread regarding Union Pacific Corp. layoffs

Additional detail from a friend formerly in (non-UP, layoff-happy company) HR:

Generally if you volunteer for a layoff (as employees were given the opportunity to do September 2017), AND were rejected, you cannot be laid off within a year of that request or there may be big legal issues. Lo and behold, here we are 1 year and a few weeks after the request for volunteers!

(Keep in mind, I can't find the legal back-up of this online - can anyone else? However it makes sense as it keeps a company from using "voluntary layoffs" as a way to figure out who's not happy, then allowing them to lay them off / fire them with a much smaller severance immediately afterwards.)

The kicker: I know from a very reliable source that management specifically asked for a list of all who had volunteered for the layoff in 2017, were rejected, and are current employees.

The federal threshold mandating the WARN program (requiring 60 days notice) is >500 employees over a 90-day period:

https://www.doleta.gov/programs/factsht/warn.htm

So doing 475 this week, and a few more layoffs at some point next year, keeps them juuuuust under that reporting limit. Hooray, they can lay you off and not have to give you the benefit of any advanced warning!

Another reason to understand what a slime Fritz / the Board is - as if needed!

P.S. This is from the perspective of someone laid off this time in 2017. Hang in there, everyone - for most people it's a great opportunity to get off a sinking ship.

IT was told 1 week ago and reiterated by Lance himself last week that there would be 200 IT contractors let go both on/offshore. I'm not sure if anywhere else in the railroad uses contractors as heavily on a day by day basis like this. Operating uses people like Hulcher on a job by job basis.

Lance went on to say, but I also don't give a s&*t about those employees, cause I'm about to hit the motherload of golden parachutes when we hit G55.