The offers come from third-party recruiters eager to place workers at the companies they just left for contract positions rather than staff positions. They would come with an end date, a lower salary, no benefits, and no stock options.

Workers say that they are shocked by the offer. One who was laid off from Amazon has heard from several recruiters looking specifically for people with Amazon experience.

In one response, the former Amazonian passed this message to the recruiter: "Tell Amazon if they want an engineer, they can just not fire me later this month."

To be fair, it might not be a case of companies firing workers in the hope they can get them back much cheaper. Tech companies often ask recruiters to find workers who have already worked at their company, particularly when hiring for a contract position that would require a worker to get up to speed quickly.

One former Microsoft worker told the Seattle Times "I do have a sense of pride. There's no way I want to go back making half the amount."