Layoffs Also Deny Employees Seniority and Benefits

“Layoffs: A Company’s Strategy of First Resort” [Nov. 22] and its accompanying articles fail to address a serious problem for workers and a significant cost savings for employers: Frequent layoffs deny employees any seniority.

No, I am not talking about seniority in a unionized workplace. I am talking about vesting in a retirement plan or in an employer’s contributions to a 401(k) plan. Seniority often rewards employees with increased vacation time or even enrollment in profit-sharing. At some companies, seniority gives an employee a layoff benefit of one or two weeks’ pay for every year worked.

Companies that lay workers off while they are also hiring understand that merely reassigning employees would cost them money for these benefits. Instead, they can claim a very generous fringe benefit package without ever having to deliver actual benefits, except to long-term managers.

If you are seeking a career and not merely a job, you should ask a prospective employer how many employees actually receive the company’s advertised benefits. That is, how many employees remain long enough to earn four weeks of vacation a year? How many actually retire with a pension? What portion of the employer’s 401(k) contribution is paid from forfeitures from employees who left before becoming vested?

DAVID E. ROSS

Oak Park