# Will "The Mooch" get a severance package? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 1, 2017, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-mooch-get-a-severance-package/792573 "2017-08-01T12:56:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![2Bits](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e95f7d/32.png) [@2Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2Bits)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-mooch-get-a-severance-package/792573/1 "2017-08-01T12:56:49Z")
Do the White House folks that getting canned by our president get severance money? If so, are the details in the public record? ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-mooch-get-a-severance-package/792573/2 "2017-08-01T13:01:47Z")
I don’t think he was ever added to the payroll. His official start date is still in the future. ---
**Author:** ![2Bits](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e95f7d/32.png) [@2Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2Bits)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-mooch-get-a-severance-package/792573/3 "2017-08-01T16:48:12Z")
> [@Crotalus](#): > > I don’t think he was ever added to the payroll. His official start date is still in the future. Perhaps it is as you say but might there not be a contract to honor? And what about Sean Spicer? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-mooch-get-a-severance-package/792573/4 "2017-08-01T17:02:30Z")
> [@Crotalus](#): > > I don’t think he was ever added to the payroll. His official start date is still in the future. Does he get fired if he doesn’t show for his first day? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-mooch-get-a-severance-package/792573/5 "2017-08-01T19:09:13Z")
Depends 100% on what his contract said. Which nobody here seems to know. I certainly don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-mooch-get-a-severance-package/792573/6 "2017-08-01T19:17:06Z")
Political appointees are the ultimate at-will employees in the public sector. While civil service employees and military personnel may sometimes be eligible for various types of separation pay (like taking a buyout during a round of government layoffs, or special allowances for early retirement benefits during layoffs), I just can’t think of any authority for the government to give golden parachutes to political appointees. Senior officials below the President are subject to annual pay caps, in any case. So while I can’t say that I know for certain that there are no bonuses available to the Mooch in this case, I feel like I would more likely than not know if there were the legal authority to pay him some kind of bonus. And I know of no authority to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2017, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-mooch-get-a-severance-package/792573/7 "2017-08-01T19:21:36Z")
I just looked through the law. Severance pay is allowed under certain circumstances, but the law says it is for people who are involuntarily separated and have also been continuously employed by the government for 12 months. Clearly not the Mooch. I can’t find any other provision that would allow him a golden parachute. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2017, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-mooch-get-a-severance-package/792573/8 "2017-08-02T00:17:17Z")
What about the sale of his business assets done to get by the ethics requirements? Are those deals just reneged on? ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2017, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-mooch-get-a-severance-package/792573/9 "2017-08-02T00:49:54Z")
As I understand it, the sale of his company is going through. There are provisions that allow for government employees who divest of business interests to comply with ethics laws to defer taxes on capital gains as a result of those sales. However, I saw an article today that said that Mooch would not seek to use those deferments (I question whether given the circumstances he could claim them in the first place, but the point seems moot.) ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-mooch-get-a-severance-package/792573/10 "2017-08-03T00:38:23Z")
I read that he wants his old job back at the Ex-Import Bank. Being a VP in charge of “strategy” at a bank will keep him content for a while. I doubt he will be making (or getting answered) any more phone calls to reporters from the bank. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-mooch-get-a-severance-package/792573/11 "2017-08-03T01:02:27Z")
Well, anyone who has prepared himself or herself to take on a promised role merits compensation if the other party reneges. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-mooch-get-a-severance-package/792573/12 "2017-08-03T01:30:59Z")
> [@Evan\_Drake](#): > > Well, anyone who has prepared himself or herself to take on a promised role merits compensation if the other party reneges. If the deal explicitly states that you serve at the pleasure of the president (I have no idea whether this was so or not, but let’s assume it is) then surely the President firing you is not a breach of the terms of the deal and there will be no termination compensation (unless, again, the deal provides for this)? ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-mooch-get-a-severance-package/792573/13 "2017-08-03T01:48:05Z")
If promised any sort of job, one will incur sundry expenses preparing. It’s only fair an ex-gratia payment be made not only to reimburse such amounts, and more to console the wounded empty feeling of having a promise yanked away. Plus it warns employers and their agents not to dicker around. ( And for that matter, employees. ) The fact this involves the said person[s] is incidental. Equity has to apply to all. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-mooch-get-a-severance-package/792573/14 "2017-08-03T01:53:13Z")
Actually Mr. Trump’s actions, although unwontedly unethical, are _brilliant_. He has a critic who hates him, offers a job which is accepted causing the critic to grovel and eat his words. Fires the fellow or refuses him employment. Critic now discredited and scorned. He did much the same to Romney and the other hangdog ex-rivals who wanted favour after. And no-one deserved it more than the pompous Romney. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_lining](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aca169/32.png) [@Silver\_lining](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_lining)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-mooch-get-a-severance-package/792573/15 "2017-08-03T11:24:08Z")
> [@2Bits](#): > > Do the White House folks that getting canned by our president get severance money? If so, are the details in the public record? I’m pretty sure the NFL took care of him 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-mooch-get-a-severance-package/792573/16 "2017-08-03T12:51:05Z")
> [@Evan\_Drake](#): > > Actually Mr. Trump’s actions, although unwontedly unethical, are _brilliant_. He has a critic who hates him, offers a job which is accepted causing the critic to grovel and eat his words. Fires the fellow or refuses him employment. Critic now discredited and scorned. > > He did much the same to Romney and the other hangdog ex-rivals who wanted favour after. And no-one deserved it more than the pompous Romney. As my grandfather always told me, never attribute to incompetence what one can attribute to playing eighteen billion dimensional chess. I’d glad to read that others were taught the same lesson. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-mooch-get-a-severance-package/792573/17 "2017-08-03T14:01:38Z")
> [@Evan\_Drake](#): > > Actually Mr. Trump’s actions, although unwontedly unethical, are _brilliant_. He has a critic who hates him, offers a job which is accepted causing the critic to grovel and eat his words. Fires the fellow or refuses him employment. Critic now discredited and scorned. That he is well known as a despicable person to the public at large hardly affects his business capabilities. I’m sure in the business circles he operates in, most people already knew who they were dealing with. He has already profited significantly by selling his business to the Chinese. Who I assume weren’t expecting any political favors in return. Nope, not at all. Many people who were well known as scum sucking jerks did quite well financially after leaving office. E.g., Nixon and Cheney (between Bush admins). Roy Cohn is a perfect example of The Mooch turned up not just to 11 but way beyond. He did quite well for many years precisely because of this reputation. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-mooch-get-a-severance-package/792573/18 "2017-08-03T16:01:07Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Roy Cohn is a perfect example of The Mooch turned up not just to 11 but way beyond. He did quite well for many years precisely because of this reputation. Roy Cohn, assistant to Joe McCarthy? Roy Cohn, mentor and legal counsel to one Donald J. Trump in the latter’s early days in business? Eerie how it all circles back around. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2017, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-mooch-get-a-severance-package/792573/19 "2017-08-03T16:55:45Z")
“Scum of a feather” and all that. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2017, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-mooch-get-a-severance-package/792573/20 "2017-08-04T21:57:26Z")
One thing to keep in mind: The Mooch’s official start date is August 15th. He was fired before he even started! I’d say there couldn’t possibly be a compensation package, but in modern American business you can’t rule out such nonsense. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-mooch-get-a-severance-package/792573.md?page=2)