Microsoft sent an email to approximately 60,000 employees offering them a buyout. This is around a quarter of their workforce (223,000 people in June). Any employees up to VP level in specific teams of the US, UK, Canada and India can apply. Microsoft have stated the package is very similar to their standard severance package.A few people have been excluded such as those in the data centre, sales and marketing teams. This means those who actually build the hardware and those selling are staying. Amy Coleman, chief people officer, wrote “this provides additional flexibility for employees to shape their next chapter”. Obviously as someone who reads contracts for a living, I read this twice. Who is taking on the risk?This is the second time they have done this. In April, they offered their 8,750 employees (aged 70 or over based on their age and tenure) for the first time in their 51-year history. About 30%+ accepted and around 4,800 people were laid off in July. This time it has gone across the globe and affected VPs.Where is the money going? Microsoft has spent around $145 billion on its capital expenditure this financial year, a lot of it is going towards AI infrastructure. Salaries are being converted to chips and power.Here in India, we have seen the beginning of this. IT companies hired around six lakh freshers in FY22. They have dropped to around 1.2 lakh in FY25. TCS laid off around 12,000 people and the largest listed IT companies ended FY26 with fewer employees than they started. We knew for two years that AI would affect our entry roles and it did. However, this month it has affected those with 15 years of experience who believed they wouldn’t be touched.One thing to note is when a company lays you off, it is their decision. When they offer a buyout it is supposed to be yours. This is a big difference and Indian law has not caught up.Also read: US Freezes Green Card Route for Microsoft, Infosys, Tata; Vance Says ‘Visa Fraud’Microsoft has about 23,000 employees in India. The company has not mentioned how many received the email, however, the timing is no coincidence. Last December, Satya Nadella met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and announced $17.5 billion investment in India between 2026-2029. This is their largest investment globally, including a large new data centre region in Hyderabad.We are seeing money flow into India and employees being asked to consider quitting. This seems strange at first but data centres require land, water, high amounts of electricity and relatively few technicians. They won’t need the programme manager in Gachibowli who has 12 years of experience on Windows.What happens to her? Most people talk about Global Capability Centres (GCCs). There are 2,117 GCCs employing around 2.36 million people, according to Nasscom and Zinnov. However, this year GCC recruitment has slowed as companies are reconsidering what they want done offshore. New roles are increasingly requiring AI and data skills. I’m not sure a 45-year-old with a mortgage and parents to support is what they are looking for.America has a little more cushion. They have a large job market, unemployment benefits and a law to allow you to keep your health insurance for a certain amount of time. In India, you generally lose your health insurance on your last day. ESIC unemployment only covers those earning up to Rs 21,000 monthly so almost everyone in this scenario cannot be covered. You also still have to pay your EMI on the 5th.As a lawyer, this is the part that really frustrates me. The labour law was written with one type of employer in mind (the one who lays people off). The Industrial Relations Code which came into effect on November 21, 2025 requires notice and compensation for those who are retrenched. However, if an establishment has over 300 employees, they need permission from the government to retrench. The Code has also introduced a Worker Re-skilling Fund. The employer pays 15 days’ salary for every person retrenched and this goes to the employee within 45 days.However, with a buyout this doesn’t happen. This is not considered a retrenchment and is instead a contract. The Supreme Court highlighted this in Bank of India v. O.P. Swarnakar (2003). The apex court said, “The scheme framed by the company is an invitation. The employee who comes forward to avail himself of the scheme makes an offer. Once the offer is accepted by the employer, the contract is concluded.” In A.K. Bindal v. Union of India in the same year they said “employees who opted for golden handshake…left the service of the employer on the terms of the scheme and therefore, they cannot come back to open the scheme.” The only safeguard they have provided with the Code is the re-skilling fund and this doesn’t apply.Many of those who received the email from Microsoft were not even considered ‘workers’. This excludes those who are primarily in a managerial or administrative role and those with supervisors earning over Rs 18,000 monthly. A VP, principal engineer or senior programme manager won’t be considered by industrial law. They will only have their employment contract and whatever their state offers under shops and establishments law. Not much.Also read: Dramatic Increase in Rural Working Women is Reflective of Economic Distress, Not New Job Opportunities: ReportAlso, the word ‘voluntary’. If you feel like you’re going to be laid off next quarter if you say no, how voluntary is your yes? The Contract Act does recognise coercion and undue influence however proving this would be difficult as the company are only sending a friendly email with a deadline. In America, hardly a place known for protecting employees, they must give those over 40 who are offered a group exit package 45 days to consider and seven days to change their minds. They must also tell them the roles and ages of those who were and weren’t offered. We don’t ask for anything.Practically speaking, the Rs 5 lakh tax-free compensation for voluntary retirement is conditional. You must be a certain age, have a certain amount of years of service and the scheme must be structured in a certain way. Don’t assume your corporate ‘exit offer’ will qualify. Ask your CA.The constitution plays a part. Since Olga Tellis (1985), the Supreme Court have recognised the right to earn a livelihood as part of the Right to life (Article 21). Article 41 asks the state to provide the right to work wherever possible. Microsoft aren’t bound by these, however, the state is. The same state who have offered land, power and policy support to get this investment. They have the right to ask for something in return.None of this requires new legislation. The labour ministry and states just need to realise that restructuring is happening in different forms. If a company is offering an exit scheme to hundreds of employees in India, they should have to report it to the labour department with figures. If the reason for the scheme is to reduce their numbers, they should pay into the re-skilling fund as if they had retrenched them. Take inspiration from America and require them to give those involved time to consider, a period to change their mind and tell them who was offered what. White collar workers need health cover and some unemployment support above the Rs 21,000 limit. States fighting to get AI data centres are in a good position to ask for skilling and local recruitment.B.R. Ambedkar, as labour member in the Viceroy’s Executive Council in the 1940s reduced the working day to eight hours from 12. He never viewed the working conditions as a personal agreement between an empowered employer and one employee.The ILO’s Declaration of Philadelphia (1944) said labour is not a commodity. Offering a buyout puts a price on leaving and claims it is voluntary. Many people will be happy to take it and I hope they’re okay. However, we have built a great middle class on the tech industry. We shouldn’t leave the terms to be dictated by a memo from Redmond. At least our law should be asking who decided the price and who is paying if it was too low.Naina Bhargava is a practicing Advocate in the Supreme Court of India.