Coinbase layoff is so large they are paying them because of the WARN act in California.

WARN is federal law not state law.

There's both a federal law and a California law.

https://edd.ca.gov/en/Jobs_and_Training/Layoff_Services_WARN

This is true in the US as well. While in some cases you can lay someone off, and immediately stop paying, most of the time there is a period where the former employee will be paid and not have to come to work (or really, allowed to).

It's also what Coinbase seems to be doing here (they are paying people for fourteen weeks or more).

It’s the exact same in the US. Most companies pay a decent severance that is tied to tenure and is meant to avoid lawsuits. If you resign and they don’t want you to stay for 2 weeks then they will still pay you.

Severance is different, though. My contract, for example, requires the employer to give me 3 month's notice (well, potentially up to 4 since the 3 month timer doesn't start until the first day of the month after notice was given), and without a very good reason to do so (we think we might run into cash problems if we don't do this wouldn't count), they'd have to offer a significant amount of money to get me to leave voluntarily - often times that ends up being about a month's pay per year worked.

Yes but you can't really "cut them off". You can tell them they don't need to be there, and most will be happy not to. But you can't revoke their access for no reason.

If you want to do that you need to prove they have (already) committed a fault of such gravity that allowing them to stay would harm the company irremediably -- it's a high bar to cross.

Europe is not a country, there are different laws everywhere. I haven't seen one yet, that would explicitly make it forbidden to cut off the access. Can you share a link to such law?

I think they can cut you off here but it's less common.

If I get fired from my company I get like a year's wage to go (and government assistance after that) so I wouldn't be that upset. Hence no need for a disorderly exit.

I think it's more in the US when people are let go with nothing, I think it's pretty obvious that they'd be pissed about it.

I've definitely seen people told there's nothing left for them to do, and their accounts and access immediately turned off. Why would they need access to systems or the office if they have no tasks? Are you saying there's some kind of right they have as an employee to come in and work even if they are told not to and there are no tasks assigned to them?

true, they call it gardening leave

That's what I've always known it as. It can be quite long, especially in financial services.

My last position was three months.

3 months gardeling leave? That's a long time. Free money for you