[ghaff]

It sounds like he may not have actually incurred any non-reimbursable expenses though other than maybe canceling an airline ticket. He's obviously incurred lots of disruption with associated costs (quitting job, getting rid of most of his stuff) but these aren't the sort of things that qualify for relocation expenses.

[cleansy]

This is not a fully-complete clause, yes, getting rid of stuff hurts and might not be coverable, but at least in this Case Google would have guaranteed to pay for the relocation. Other clauses could be that in the event of a redundancy before employment start, the signing bonus stays with the employee, etc. In his case, it still covers the financial blow to a degree, and he would have probably enough time to find a replacement job. Relocation costs are also money spent on Realtors, etc.

[jt2190]

Wouldn’t it be simpler to just ask for a signing bonus?