Q. Hi, Employee Advocate! My company is in the process of its second major downsizing this year. The first group of downsized employees was given generous separation packages. However, I have learned that future "downsizees" won't be offered anything at all.

Is this legal? It doesn't seem fair that those who made the first cut will now be thrown out without any compensation. Thanks for your help.

A. Providing less -- or no -- compensation for successive downsizings is legal unless the difference in severance packages was based upon a discriminatory reason. It would be illegal, for example, if the first set of downsized employees were all white and the second group were all minorities.

Generally, severance packages are less and less generous after the first downsizing because the company is running out of money. You could try appealing to your boss on the premise of fairness, although there are no guarantees this would work. Otherwise, what your company is doing is not unusual.