These are terrible times. We’ve reached a point that, it seems, no news is good news. You’ll find the word “layoffs” in the business section of just about every newspaper in every city in the United States, and I think it’s safe to say that if you still have a job you should consider yourself lucky, if not blessed. But if you have been, or were to be laid off, what would your course of action be? Do you even know what needs to happen before and after you’ve been laid off? When my boss called me into his office and asked me to shut the door behind me, I didn’t know what to think. Sure one of our facilities was closing, and a good chunk of people were being laid off, but my department wasn’t even involved in this “transition”, or so I thought. But when he handed me a paper that said my employment was going to be terminated, I had no idea what to say or think, and after a little research I must say I’m glad I took the time to find out exactly what was happening and what I needed to do about it.
The first thing I learned is that employers aren’t required by law to provide severance packages. This valuable information brought new meaning to my boss’ words, “keep up the good work until your time here is out.” Since layoffs and facility closings are signs that a company is desperately trying to save money, their keeping a close eye on the employees scheduled to receive severance packages makes a lot of sense. Why layoff an employee and give him a severance package if they can just fire them without expense instead? If you’ve been notified about your upcoming termination, now would not be a good time to start (or continue) robbing the office supplies cabinet. Instead, work twice as hard and prove to the company that you’re worth what they’ll be paying you. I also learned that withholding federal taxes from your severance package, if you’re getting one, is a must if you don’t want to be hurting come tax day.
Although employers aren’t required by law to provide severance packages, employers with 100 or more employees are required by the WARN Act of 1989 to to provide a sixty calendar-day advance notification of plant closings and mass layoffs. The WARN act does not, however, require employers to provide an exact date of termination to any employees laid off. I was a bit worried when I received my first “you’re being laid off” letter from my boss, which said nothing about an exact date. I did, however, receive another letter about a week later which listed the exact date I was to be laid off. If you’ve been laid off and you don’t know the exact date, try and find out. Applications for employment most often ask for your available start date, and knowing the exact date you’re being cut can help you put a date on the applications you will be filling out until, and perhaps after, your time comes.
Whether you’re receiving a severance package from your employer or not, you are still entitled to unemployment benefits. However, there is most often a few weeks time between the day you file for benefits and the day the first check arrives, so file for benefits as soon as possible. And despite any stereotypes, the “long line of scumbags” at the unemployment office doesn’t actually exist. Make an appointment, go in, fill out some paperwork, and your good to go. You can also apply online or over the phone. The long lines of frustratingly incompetent peoples are located at the welfare office, a place which you could, but definitely don’t want to, end up in.
Then there’s the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1986. Since that’s a serious mouthful of words, some of which most people have never seen before, we’ll call it COBRA. COBRA requires the continuation of health benefit coverage to be offered to covered employees, their spouses, their former spouses, and their dependent children when group health coverage would otherwise be lost due to a layoff. COBRA allows for coverage for up to 18 months in most cases, but if you’re deemed disabled by the Social Security Administration, coverage may continue for up to 29 months. If you’re divorced, coverage may continue for up to 36 months. COBRA is both simple and complex. If you try and read the entire text of the act as it was signed by President Reagan, you might pass out. If you’ve been laid off, all you need to know about COBRA is that unless you plan on using your health care benefits between the time you’ve been laid off and the time you get a new job, you should not enact COBRA right away. COBRA can be enacted retroactively within 60 days of your being laid off. That means that if you don’t enact COBRA, and you break your leg a month after you’ve been laid off, you can choose to enact COBRA and you’ll be covered. Break you leg on day 61, however, and you’re out of luck.
With every article, document, letter and blog I read about layoffs, I always came across the phrase, “Ask your HR representative about…” and have deduced that the most important thing to do when laid off is get a solid list of questions you need answered about what your layoff entails, what your getting, how it’s calculated, when your being let go, etc, and find someone who can answer them. Negotiate if you can, and make sure you’re getting everything you’re entitled to. You’re life is about to change drastically, and I’m sure you don’t want to take on that challenge unprepared.
Useful Links:
WARN Act on Wikipedia
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worker_Adjustment_and_Retraining_Notification_Act
Description: This link will lead you to the Wikipedia page which describes the WARN Act of 1989.
Employee’s Guide to COBRA [PDF]
Link: http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/pdf/cobraemployee.pdf
Description: This link leads to the Department of Labors brochure entitled, “An Employee’s Guide to Health Benefits Under COBRA”. It explains what COBRA is, how it works, and provides a solid 20 pages of information that you might need to know when being laid off.
Economic Policy Institute
Benefits Calculator
Link: http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/datazone_uicalc_index
Description: The purpose of this online benefits calculator is twofold. First, the calculator demonstrates the great disparities in benefit generosity from one state to the next. Second, the calculator gives a general idea of the benefits a typical part-time or full-time, full-year worker might expect to receive should he or she become unemployed.
Career One Stop
Service Locator
Link: http://www.servicelocator.org/OWSLinks.asp
Description: CareerOneStop.org’s online service locator provides links to general information about your state’s unemployment insurance program, how to file an Unemployment Initial (UI) claim online, and how to file a claim by phone.
U.S. department of Labor
Employment & Training Administration
TAA & ATAA Petitions
Link: http://www.doleta.gov/tradeact/petitions.cfm#1
Description: The US Department of Labor’s website provides details on the process of applying for TAA and ATAA in order to help workers successfully obtain TAA/ATAA eligibility. Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) and Alternative Adjustment Assistance (ATAA) help trade-affected workers who have lost their jobs as a result of increased imports or shifts in production out of the United States. TAA program services and benefits are designed to facilitate workers in getting back to work quickly.
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