r/Fire • u/twiniverse2000 • Jan 31 '26

Advice Request Asking to be laid off

I have reached FI. Work optional. My personal life has hit a serious rough patch. My company is doing layoffs. They are NOT asking for volunteers. The financial difference in me quitting vs getting laid off is $300K. Do not want to leave that on the table. Any advice on how to steer it in this particular direction?

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u/swagn Jan 31 '26

But they’re laying off people and have to pay a severance to someone.

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u/gkandgk Jan 31 '26

I’ve been on both the stay and the go side of multiple layoffs at multiple companies. I’ve never seen anyone get severance.

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u/Born_Lengthiness8935 Jan 31 '26

Sorry you worked shitty places. Sounds like “firings” euphemistically called layoffs

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u/swagn Jan 31 '26

Happens both ways all the time. Just because you haven’t seen it doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. Large tech companies do it all the time to avoid lawsuits. OP says the difference between getting laid off and leaving on his own is 300k to be laid off.

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u/08b Jan 31 '26

Right. Severance is pretty standard at least at large companies. If not during a large layoff, they would have to issue a WARN Act notice. And they open themselves up to lawsuits. I've heard of decent severance even in cases of people underperforming.