Oracle's AI-Driven Layoff of 30,000 Draws Backlash Over Severance and Forfeited Stock

Oracle's abrupt termination of an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 employees via email on March 31, 2026 has sparked significant employee pushback over severance terms. The company offered four weeks of base pay plus one additional week per year of service, capped at 26 weeks, but did not accelerate unvested stock grants, meaning some long-tenured employees forfeited hundreds of thousands of dollars in RSUs that were months from vesting. At least 90 affected employees signed a petition urging Oracle to match severance terms offered by Meta, Microsoft, and Cloudflare, all of which provided accelerated vesting and more generous payouts during their own AI-driven restructurings. Oracle declined to negotiate. The company also classified some hybrid workers as remote, potentially reducing their legal protections under the WARN Act. The layoffs are part of a broader tech industry trend: over 92,000 tech workers have been laid off in 2026, with AI cited as a leading driver.