Can I quit on the spot?

First, get another job.
Then quit.

In interviews you can tell the truth: the company you work for is no longer providing the sense of job security you need evidenced by the recent layoffs, you are looking for new avenues to explore and you believe your talents will benefit the new company.

Always remember that you are a company unto yourself. You supply product, your talents, skills and ideas, at a price which is met by your salary and health benefits. Go, take a better offer. Don't have a better offer? Go get one.

Joe(Go buy What Color is Your Parachute?) Nation

I agree with Joe. There should be no legal ramifications as most companies are employed at will; meaning you can leave at the drop of a hat. I have known people who have done this. However in the long run this may not be in your best interest. You never want to leave a company on a bad note. You don't know if you would ever run into these people in the future. If a company would ever check into your past and heard you left without giving the two weeks notice, it will not look good for you.

I can give you an example, I recently left my company and had good reason to leave. I kept my job until a found another suitable position elsewhere. I gave a little over the two weeks notice and worked to my full potential through my last day. Well come to find out that a former boss is working at my new company. They did ask her opinion about me. Fortunately I left there on a good note and she only had good things to say about me.

Juliet- Welcome to A2K!

Never burn your bridges. Not only is it not nice, but if you do, someday it might fly back in your face. I agree with the others. Find another job, and then give appropriate notice. It will be much better in the long run.

Doing things out of spite is never worth it, especially in your career.

As angry as you are, you need to think about what is best for you.

Spite doesn't pay and you should avoid doing things out of anger in anything connected to your career.

Think about it. You are pretty certain that you will never work for this company again.. but are you sure you will never run into any ofthe people again. Are you sure that someone who knows what happened in this job won't have input into hiring you for another?

My advice is that you should give two weeks notice after you have another job. Then you should leave quietly and move on.

Rant here all you want, but in your professional life you should act professionally in any circumstance.

Never burn any bridges... it just doesn't get you anything, and there is a real risk that you may regret it.

Probably never come up, but if you quit, you give up any right to unemployment compensation. Depending on the laws of your state, and company policy, you may also forfeit accrued vacation pay.

Give 2 weeks notice.

If your manager is as bad as you think he is they may escort you off the property that day. Good news is they will have to pay you for those 2 weeks. Request an exit interview with HR. Air your grievances with them but be calm and specific. You may well find out HR has heard other similar complaints. I take it that you don't dislike the company but it is more about the manager. When a new manager takes over and there is a large turn over of employees it never hurts to leave a record of why you left. If you were really slated by your manager to be laid off but only saved by upper management tell them you don't think your manager has any confidence in you. There is no reason you should have to work for someone you feel doesn't like your work. It may well reveal a pattern of bad management on the part of your manager. Tell the truth but don't be nasty.

If they don't escort you out, do your job for the next 2 weeks including training your replacement. Keep your mouth shut to fellow employees but request an exit interview with HR.

In this day and age, comments made to HR won't be used against you when the company gives out references. I have heard that most companies won't even give out bad references for fear of lawsuits.

That would have to be in a very specific jurisdiction, believe me.

I'm with Phoenix regarding bridge-burning and leaving on a positive note. No matter the circumstances, someone hiring you for a new job will understand and *appreciate* the fact you want to give your current employer two weeks notice before starting at their company. They'll appreciate it because it shows you would do the same for them.

Good luck.

What to do?
Thanks for all the advices. I should have joined this website long ago for advices. I was miserable for a long long time. Because I had seen too much, had known too much, had heard too much of the back-stabbing, politics, etc. that happened within the company as well as my dept. I know what they did to the people they laid off or fired. I survived because I'm a high performer, obedient and quiet. I did all the difficult/complicated works and let them claimed the credits. Perhaps that's why the manager chose me to layoff thinking that I won't make it a big deal. So I kind of want to revenge, not just on him, but on the upper management - want them to regret for losing an important asset to the company. (Note: The upper management didn't save me. They just saved themselves for not having discrimination lawsuit if they lay off most minority of the dept.) I am doing this for the people who had been treated unfairly too. No one can do all my job now. I think they will need to hire 2 to 3 people to do my job, or hire someone more expensive (but may or may not handle all) to do my job. So, why should I give them 2 weeks for "training" when they ill-treated me and some others? Exit interview? No, the HR in our company is not trustable either because they tell (even though they said they won't tell).

And if I am planning for a long vacation during summer, start my own business after the vacation, can I still quit without giving them early notice? Or you still suggest me to give 2 weeks' notice? Or 1 week??? I need advise to plan through the whole process.

I would still give them two weeks notice. I left a terrible situation too. But I held my head high and gave them my two weeks - now with several other people leaving, I honestly do not know how they will handle all the work.

Basically they will suffer. If you do so much more work than everyone else, it will hurt them. You will always feel positive about yourself because you gave your best even under the worst of circumstance. Just remember that living well is the best revenge.

And just to let you know, I felt just like you. I did not to get back at them - wanted to do something to maybe even the score - but I think by leaving the way I did on such a positive note, they will miss my work even more and honestly I feel much better about myself.

Juliet,

As the old saying goes... "the best revenge is to live a good life".

Your future jobs are much more important than your previous jobs. Think ahead.... you are a professional and if you continue to act like a professional you will be much more valuable in the future.

There is nothing you will gain by doing something to hurt your employer. However, you could hurt your future by doing so.

It just isn't worth it.

I would give the two weeks.

Juliet--

I'm glad you're enjoying A2K.

How long is your vacation? Can you give notice before vacation so that your two-weeks-notice won't actually be spent working?

I'm considering one to two months long vacation with the whole family during summer before I start everything all over again. I'm leaving this company for good. And when I come back from vacation, I want to be my own boss with flexible hours, and able to spend more quality time with my kids (while they are still young, when they needed me most.).

I really appreciate everyone's suggestion. I may think about doing it gracefully. Maybe one week notice should be enough. And I'm going to hang on there until around summer vacation to say goodbye. (Some of my friends in other dept. had been laid-off today!)