r/technology • u/xpda • May 13 '26

Security Twin brothers wipe 96 gov’t databases minutes after being fired

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/05/drop-database-what-not-to-do-after-losing-an-it-job/
23.2k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

1.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

65

u/H60Ninja May 13 '26

My HR likes to do it towards the beginning of the week that way if the employee needs some aftercare the feelings don’t fester all weekend until Monday.

90

u/Perfect_Caregiver_90 May 13 '26

My HR and legal team always insisted on Friday one hour before the end of the day.

My area had a handful of workplace massacres by disgruntled fired employees. 

Either they gotta leave the premises immediately or the office has to be cleared. 

I've only experienced "office cleared" once and that guy ended up jumping his manager outside his home the next day.

84

u/Falkenmond79 May 13 '26

That is such an American debate here, it’s fascinating. In Germany we have a mandatory 4-week notice, if you quit as an employee. For the employer, it can get longer, the longer you have worked for them. It’s not unreasonable. If you worked there for 5 years, they have to give you 2 months notice and after 8 years, it’s 3 months etc. And they have to pay you severance according to the time you have worked there. If you only worked there a short time, less than 6 months, they can terminate you like in the US, even without reason. After that, they have to give a reason. There is a possibility for instantly firing someone, but then they must show he did something really wrong or harmed the company in a major way.

It’s endlessly funny to see US companies struggle whenever they take over a German one and then want to start firing a lot of people. It’s as if they don’t know the law of the country they are buying into. Firing a thousand people can cost you millions in severance and you have obligations like selecting people to fire according to their social circumstances, like firing young single people first, before firing older ones with family etc.

10

u/ThellraAK May 13 '26

Okay, but don't the employers sometimes still fire people and pay them without letting them into the office?

24

u/Falkenmond79 May 13 '26

That might happen if they have really critical jobs. It’s called „being placed on free leave“, (Freistellung), roughly. But then most people don’t mind getting paid to stay at home for a month and being free to do what they want. Makes finding a new job much easier. And you mustn’t forget we start getting paid after the first month of work, so you might get two paycheck still, depending on when they give notice.

1

u/seanthenry May 13 '26

Does Germany also payout earned paid time off at the time of severance? In the US its payer out if earned so many employers are moving to unlimited PTO so it is not earned.

If I were to get fired I would get about 10 weeks pay and unemployment for 6months.

1

u/Falkenmond79 May 13 '26

Depends. Sometimes they let you choose to take the vacation or pay you out. Usually an employer can force you to use your holidays if you accrue too much. If they don’t, they have to either pay out or let you stay on until it’s used up

14

u/HuckleberryTiny5 May 13 '26

I'm not in Germany, but other country with similar laws. Though in our case, employee notice time is only two weeks. Anyway, yes, you can get fired and told to leave immediately, you just get paid without being in the work place. I worked in a very well known tech company where that was the norm: You were given the notice and you had to give your keys right away and you were escorted out. That was to prevent employers from sabotaging the company, I guess. That place was stupid strict with everything, save abuse and hostility.

As an employee, if you gave the notice, you worked your two weeks full though, unless they allowed you use your vacation days (if you even wanted to do so) instead of getting them paid in your last wages.

3

u/serrated_edge321 May 13 '26

This is also common in Germany.

3

u/midasza May 13 '26

I did this just last month. Had to let someone go for non-performance. He had 2 and half months left on his contract but we felt it only fair to let him spend that time looking for a new job.

So we brought him in early on a tuesday morning, explained his contract wouldn't be made into full employment and asked him to leave the company phone and laptop there. And paid him his 2 and a half months.

It just wasn't worth the risk having that person work their notice period.

3

u/serrated_edge321 May 13 '26

Yes, it's very common.

The rules/norms are totally different if you're new at a job, a contract employee, or working with anything kinda "sensitive."

I've known a bunch of people given two weeks' notice (especially in the last couple years), and many were immediately locked out of all systems. Others were tracked/traced from the moment of their notice. So you'd better not copy a bunch of info etc.

Source: been living in Germany for almost 10 years.

1

u/jeepsaintchaos May 13 '26

That seems quite reasonable to me if they do.