HR doesn’t squirm because they are lying. They squirm because they minimize lawsuit surface area as much as possible. I have been on the giving end of performance layoffs in big corps and there is an extremely strict script you have to stick to (both HR rep and me as the manager).

I saw the video you’re referring to and it’s completely unsurprising they clam up further when she became confrontational. You’re not gonna talk your way out of a termination unless you have some pretty hard evidence it was for something illegal.

That’s just what getting fired looks like and people don’t often get to see the process so cloudflare “became famous”.

How is obviously lying about the layoff reason minimizing the lawsuit area? It's ripping it wide open I'd think.

Most of the US is a right to work environment where a company can let someone go at any time for any reason other than the few protected class reasons. Many companies also have 90 day probationary period where they bypass internal company processes and let someone go, again other than for protected class reasons.

It's obviously hard when people's lives are upended, but no one complains when companies do a lot of hiring because the risk is lower.

Sure, but why lie?

They lie to get out of paying for unemployment I think.

I mean, look at them it’s a poor struggling company barely making ends meet /s

It starts with some things that minimize the lawsuit area, but over time it transforms into a habit of lying. It's company policy, you know? Don't question, just execute.

[deleted]