Continuing its layoff spree, Oracle once again resorted to using its controversial 6 a.m. termination playbook, affecting hundreds of workers. One Seattle-based vice president, who says he was laid off during the latest round, has opened up about how he learned about his termination after losing access to his corporate accounts.
Yurie Rich, a Seattle-based Oracle vice president, said his corporate access disappeared on 14 September, leaving him unable to access the account where the company's termination notice was sent.
'One of thousands that got the boot this AM,' Rich wrote on LinkedIn, indicating that he was among the workers laid off during the 14 September round. He said Oracle had not sent the termination email to his personal email either.
'So apparently, don't even get the courtesy of an e-mail. Classy!' Rich wrote.
Another Oracle employee, director of product development Barry Hickson, separately shared on LinkedIn that he too had lost access before receiving the corporate notification.
Rich's experience is one of several employee accounts emerging from Oracle's September layoff round, adding another layer to a restructuring that has already substantially reduced the company's workforce this year.
WARN Notice Shows 359 Job Cuts in Washington
While Rich's job has already been eliminated, hundreds more Oracle employees in Washington state are facing layoffs later this year.
According to a WARN notice filed on 14 September, 359 employees are scheduled to separate from Oracle on 13 November. The filing was made the same day employees reported receiving termination emails in the early morning on 14 September.
The affected workforce includes employees at Oracle facilities in the Seattle area as well as remote workers based in Washington state. The cuts do not mean the Seattle facilities themselves are closing.
"The Seattle Sites are not closing. No bumping rights exist, and it is anticipated that these layoffs will be permanent," Oracle said in its most recent WARN notice.
The November layoffs add to an earlier round of Washington job cuts announced in March, when Oracle disclosed plans affecting 491 workers. Together, the two rounds account for approximately 850 Washington positions affected by announced cuts in 2026.
Oracle's 6 AM Layoff Email Came After Access Was Cut for Some
Oracle employees affected by the latest round received termination emails in the early morning of 14 September, with employee reports placing the emails at around 6 a.m.
Many employees took to social media platforms and Reddit to share how access to Slack and email was revoked without prior intimation.
The sequence is notable because the termination notice was sent to employees' corporate accounts, potentially leaving workers unable to access the message once their credentials had been disabled. The same pattern took place when Oracle led a separate round of layoffs in March, for which it faced severe backlash.
However, Oracle has not publicly commented on whether it disabled access before sending termination notifications or if it is a company-wide policy. The accounts describing that sequence come from affected employees.
Rich's Layoff Is Part of a Much Larger Oracle Restructuring
Rich's termination comes against the backdrop of a much broader reduction in Oracle's workforce. Oracle's global employee count fell from roughly 162,000 at the end of fiscal 2025 to about 141,000 at the end of fiscal 2026, a decline of approximately 21,000 employees, or about 13%.
The reduction came as Oracle increased spending on cloud infrastructure and artificial intelligence-related capacity.
Oracle also expects approximately $2.8 billion in restructuring costs. The figure includes severance, contract termination costs and other expenses associated with restructuring, rather than representing workforce-reduction costs alone.
The Washington Cuts Are Heavily Hitting Technical Roles
The latest Washington layoffs span a wide range of positions, including software developers, infrastructure and platform engineers, site reliability engineers, programme managers and data scientists. The list also includes senior roles such as vice presidents, directors and principal-level employees.
Oracle said the layoffs were not the result of, and were not expected to result in, the relocation or contracting out of its operations or the affected employees' positions.
The range of affected positions shows that the cuts extend beyond administrative roles, although Oracle has not publicly provided a detailed explanation of why each individual position is being eliminated.
Oracle's Workforce Has Fallen 13% as AI Spending Surges
Oracle's workforce reduction is unfolding while the company is dramatically increasing its capital spending.
Oracle has projected capital expenditure of roughly $90 billion to $95 billion for fiscal 2027, following $28.5 billion in capital expenditure during its first quarter. The spending is tied largely to the expansion of Oracle's cloud infrastructure and efforts to meet demand for AI computing capacity.
That creates a sharp contrast inside the company: Oracle is cutting jobs in parts of its existing workforce while directing enormous sums towards data centres, cloud infrastructure and AI.
For Rich, the layoff has already happened. Many Washington employees named in the latest WARN filing will either have received a termination email stating, "Today is your last working day," or face permanent layoff on 13 November.
