Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. I am
only publishing my interpretation of my situation. You should seek your
own legal representation for your own particular
situation. Do not rely on my
opinions or statements for your own purposes as state
and local law varies as do individual circumstances.
I just got my pink slip. Actually, it was an email to
schedule a conference call as my job was a remote employee
position. The conference call was to officially lay me off. Yes,
I was laid off. My employer laid off about 3,000 employees this
month. That is a lot of people. It included almost everyone in
my group with whom I have worked these past eight years.
Luckily, I am handling it pretty well (At least, I think I am
handling it pretty well). Of course, this is the first time in
my thirty-seven year life that I have ever been laid off. I have
never been without a job since I started working on a farm when
I was thirteen years old. Plus, I have never been asked to leave
a job. I have always switched jobs on my own accord. This
situation of being in a corporate lay off is completely new to
me. Still, I think I will be okay.
Being a large U.S.
corporation, I was given a very generous severance package. This
is very fortunate. Plus, I do have some money saved up and in
the stock market. All of this will probably tide me over for at
least six months. I have been warned by friends, however, that
this money will probably not last as long as I think it will.
Hopefully, I will have a new job and a steady replacement income
before this money does in fact run out.
The lay off was actually
on May 12th so I am now going into my third week of
unemployment. I cut out some expenses (I will be cutting out
more here shortly). I applied for unemployment compensation. I
qualified for the unemployment compensation, but it is not much
- only about $275 a week. Still, this is far better than
nothing; and I am greatly appreciative of receiving it (although
I have not yet seen my first check). As part of my severance
package, my employer has paid for four months of career
placement counseling for me. That was very considerate of them.
I have started on their placement program, but I have not yet
applied for any of the jobs that are out there yet. Instead, a
small group of my co-workers (now ex-co-workers) have decided to
start our own private software consulting practice and see if we
can make a go of it ourselves. We have already incorporated and
are now aggressively searching for business. We are all very
excited about this new endeavor and the opportunities that we
think are out there. Hopefully, revenue will come in before my
savings and severance package runs out.
I will be applying for
COBRA here shortly. COBRA will extend my medical insurance for a
limited time until I can find another source of insurance.
Luckily, the government has lately started a deal where they
will cover 65% of my COBRA monthly premiums. That is very
fortunate for me as COBRA, while perhaps cheaper than getting my
own insurance, is not cheap.
When I renewed my lease
this past March, I had them add a layoff clause to the lease.
This kind of puts me on a month-to-month rent basis now. I do
not want to move as this takes money and I really do like where
I live now and do not have as nice of a place to move. Still, if
the money that I have now runs out, I will be able to get out of
my lease without being liable for the remainder of the monthly
payments. That is a small weight off of my shoulders.
Two years ago started my
problems with my real estate investments. I lost my primary
residence last year. I will lose two investment condos this
year. I just lost my job. A lot of worse things could happen to
me, but I certainly hope the bad things do not keep piling up on
me.
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