> it is not normal for (a) contracts to not have notice periods and (b) for companies to not honour them.

Nobody's talking about the contract not having a notice period, much less about not honouring the notice period. I'm talking about (metaphorically these days) getting you out of the building and stopping you from potentially causing damage.

I'm not sure about the US but here in the UK your notice period will still be honoured because you will receive the salary you would have received had you continued to work through that notice period even though you are no longer able to do any work for the company (i.e., "gardening leave" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_leave).

I don't know what Google's severance policies are, and particularly with regard to remuneration for severence period (they will certainly vary by country/region though), so this situation might be different. Nobody's explicitly said whether or not Timnit will be paid some standard notice period (though reference is made to her final paycheque in the email she quotes where her resignation is accepted). No doubt an organisation as large and complex as Google has some policy that covers these circumstances that they will follow.

As I say, here in the UK, if somebody's resigned it's perfectly OK to ask them to stop working before their notice period is up (which might include revoking access to email and other company systems), as long as you pay them for the whole notice period. Doing work on behalf of the company and getting paid are two separate issues under these circumstances.

The effective date of a resignation is when the employee is officially no longer employed. Not when they're put on gardening leave. Google doesn't pay people past the effective date normally.

Thank you. That's helpful to know and clearly illustrates the difference in practice across different countries (they wouldn't be able to do that in the UK unless it was a firing).

I think the difference is more phrasing than practice. Both countries require paying employees for the notice period when they resign. That's why people are saying she was fired.

>contracts to not have notice periods

All the employments contracts I've seen were along the lines of "you may give notice of x day which we may refuse" and "in case of termination we give notice according to laws (2 weeks)" or something iirc. If she resigned it's pretty usual for the employer to be able to waive the notice period.