Being honest to my boss as I walk out the door. Financial ramifications?

[gayl]

Unemployment is now only 26 weeks but is that the 'severance' the others refer to? Don't I have to be looking for work to get unemployment? I mean I'll be looking probably October (under employed) into November (newly unemployed) but if I become comfortable with that, wouldn't I stop getting it?

 

[rodi]

No, not at all. The layoff I took at Motorola had a number of people who did this. They weren't planning to retire, it was kinda forced on them.

But the flip-side is better -- wait for a layoff and then piggyback your retirement onto the layoff. Best of both worlds. You effectuate your plan to retire, plus get a severance package. All ya gotta do is hang in there until the layoff comes.

Unfortunately, that doesn't work for all of us. I worked for Mot for decades in their cable division... (Started as General Instrument, then acquired by Mot, then spun off to Mot Mobility, then sold off to Arris... with some google ownership in there briefly).

Lots of layoffs... unfortunately - never happened for me and very light layoffs in my group. I got tired of waiting... I'd been letting my bosses know for years to put my name at the top of the list. Dang it. They finally had a layoff in my old group about 6 months ago... but I'd already been retired for 2 years... LOL.

 

[karen1972]

In this day and age who knows, I don't see how they could sue you or do anything to you unless you wrote something up publicly as you wouldnt' be able to prove it. However, there is always glassdoor which lots of people vent on and you can hide your identity and it forewarns others that would apply to this place..if your looking to help out others.

Of course I told them everything when I left.. I was open and honest with HR because what they were doing was unethical. The week after I left several people were fired but that also included the HR person I spoke to...so I have often assumed they were cleaning up a mess and wanted to one to ask any further questions. It did make things easier for those I left behind so I'm glad I did it.

 

[athena53]

Unemployment is now only 26 weeks but is that the 'severance' the others refer to? Don't I have to be looking for work to get unemployment? I mean I'll be looking probably October (under employed) into November (newly unemployed) but if I become comfortable with that, wouldn't I stop getting it?

Two different things. "Severance", to me, means money your employer pays directly to you as a sort of reparation for dumping you out on the tarmac. If you start a new job the next day you still get to keep it. Unemployment compensation is paid by the state (funded by premiums paid by employers) and IS dependent on your still being unemployed and actively looking for work. Not sure if you can collect both; the one time I got severance it was 6 months in a lump sum and I may have been able to collect Unemployment because it wasn't ongoing payments. I had another job in 6 weeks, though, so didn't even try.

 

[gayl]

I don't think anybody cares what I say as I walk out the door. I have gotten my ear bent by the guy who's now off until February as well as the guy who is now off until January. I'm the only one other than the owners still there and I'm really not. I could say something and it would just roll right off their backs because it really isn't that relative. That's one thing that we have to be aware of when you work for a small company or perhaps anywhere in Private Industry

 

[Walt34]

Unemployment is now only 26 weeks but is that the 'severance' the others refer to? Don't I have to be looking for work to get unemployment?

It's been a while for me and each state has it's own rules on this, but there is "looking" for work and then there is "seriously looking" for work. A couple of times they wanted to see proof that I was looking but a printout of a search result with "no results found" on a job site would suffice. And it didn't have to be any job, you could hold out for a job related to what you used to do.

A scary moment for me was when I accidentally found a job position I was qualified for! But since it required being on call 24/7 and working nights occasionally I was most definitely not applying there! So I used some different search terms and printed out that page instead.

 

[karen1972]

ERD50 has it right.
It's a job, not a marriage. It's a business relationship, period. No reason to get all emotional about it.

One of my co-workers explained this to me in my early years at the company. Then he gave me his motto in full detail, "I f*king love Motorola. And Motorola loves f*king me." (Notice none of that "megacorp" BS, I name names.)


E

HA as a 20 year employee of said mega corp.. I do so understand...but then again 20 years ago it was family owned and felt like it and now its 1/10th the size and run as a megacorp that it no longer is.

btw, the 23 week unemployment that was mentioned in this thread is not valid in all states.. having moved to North Carolina I found out they only provide 13 weeks and we are not the lowest with Florida running at 12 and there are several states trying to lower the bar even further...ie whats the point of unemployment when it only covers 12 weeks and only pays $300/week.. sorry not sure a max (for a single person) of $3600 is really a safety net.

 

[athena53]

In this day and age who knows, I don't see how they could sue you or do anything to you unless you wrote something up publicly as you wouldn't be able to prove it. However, there is always glassdoor which lots of people vent on and you can hide your identity and it forewarns others that would apply to this place..if you're looking to help out others.

When I left I signed a paper saying that in return for being paid through the end of the next month and getting $1,500 to assist with COBRA, I wouldn't say anything negative about the company, including anonymous reviews! The company is a puzzle: there are people who work there for decades and wouldn't work anywhere else, and there are people like me who just didn't fit into the culture and politics and were very short-termers. So, it would be hard to write a glassdoor review that would help someone to sort out whether they might have a chance there.

It's been 2.5 years since I left and I'm pretty open with people one-on-one when they ask me about my experiences. If someone asks about getting into the place through my connections, I tell them my picture is probably still posted in the reception area. Weasel boss actually had the stuff I signed include an acknowledgement that I was not eligible for rehire, which I thought was reserved only for people who embezzled company funds or sexually harrassed employees.