Where's the severance?

The laid-off workers that I wrote about in Sunday's piece on the closing of the Reynold's packaging plant in Downingtown didn't get a dime in severance. They didn't even get vacation pay for the balance of the year. Pretty harsh. Many of the nearly 150 who lost their jobs had worked at the plant for decades. Interestingly, one in four employers doesn't have any kind of severance policy, according to Mercer, the consulting company that specializes in employee benefits. That doesn't mean they don't pay severance benefits -- it just means they don't have a policy. (I'm sure Mercer would be available to help draw one up.)