PNW Mike, not trying to spin your comment (hope you don't think I'm doing that); just saying you are proposing that exchange (between employer and employee) as a pretty even bargaining situation, when I don't think it is; I have survived multiple layoffs in newsrooms, involving many friends, and I never once saw a person in a position to pass on the severance package, regardless of the potential for taking moral high ground; sure, it's possible, but it's already a difficult enough situation for that person being let go, without adding to it the choice between a severance and maintaining their ability to practice free speech about their situation, especially for a journalist trained to speak freely about everything