A group of Meta workers who joined the company through a corporate training program say they are getting inferior severance packages compared to other workers who were recently laid off.
Meta's Sourcer Development Program helps workers from diverse background get jobs in corporate technology recruiting. Meta has a program that helps people with non-traditional professional background get apprenticeships at the social networking giant.
More than 60 members of Meta's Sourcer Development Program were let go as part of the company's massive layoffs in November.
The members of Meta's Sourcer Development Program told CNBC they joined the company in April. The employees said they were classified as short-term employees that received all the benefits of full-time employees, but not corporate stock packages. The employees would be converted to full-time employees after completing the 12-month program.
In a letter sent to Meta employees during the layoffs and posted online, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that the company would cover the cost of healthcare for people.
Members of the Sourcer Development Program are only getting 8 weeks of base pay and 3 months of COBRA.
The workers were full-time employees and not contract staff, so it's not clear why they are getting lower packages than their colleagues.
The impacted workers wrote a letter to Meta executives, including Meta's head of people and chief operating officer, asking for help with their situation.
The group wrote that their former managers told them that they were offered 16 weeks of pay and six months of health insurance.
The last SDP class, which began in April 2022, was assured by their leadership that any layoffs would not affect their current employment but would likely impact the company's ability to consider them for a full-time role.
The Meta workers said they haven't received a reply from Meta's human resources or management.
The letter said that the programs would not be impacted. We were assured by our managers that we wouldn't need to apply to positions outside of the company.
We understand that we are employed at- will and that business needs are always evolving and changing, but we couldn't help but wonder if there had been a mistake.
The workers told CNBC that Meta has yet to reply to their letter, but has sent some members gift packages to congratulate them for completing the sourcer development program
The workers said in the letter that they hoped the Meta offer of only 8 weeks of base pay and 3 months of COBRA was a mistake.
A request for comment was not responded to by Facebook.
Lora was involved in this report.
Meta will focus on social media and ad business.
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