Thanks to the person who suggested filing for unemployment. Great idea that I would have never thought of! My state's application asks for last day worked. Do you know if they will pay unemployment starting now since we are technically employed through Jan 5? Or do we have to wait until then to apply?
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Here in Michigan it is like $320/week… can’t believe even Texas is better
Severance lump sum payment does not disqualify one from getting unemployment benefit in Texas. You cannot get unemployment benefits while you are “on the books” of the company and any week where you have any payments for work. Texas unemployment benefits su-k at $563/ week but money is money. I have been through 4 layoffs , the last about 7 years ago and each time I got a huge severance payment but unemployment benefits were paid. HTH.
I think we are screwed in TX, apparently. If I understood the gibberish on TWC website correctly, the severance affects your unemployment benefits. If someone really has experience with it in Texas please chime in. Also down here it is $570/week max, which helps to slow the bleeding.
Schwab has to report this all to the state - of which you may draw unemployment - you need to include your severance when reporting - the state will know if you don't
And, I believe you have to log 5 jobs/week you applied to continue receiving unemployment.
Like some others have mentioned, your last day will be the Jan 5 date, or whatever it says in your paperwork. You can get unemployment set up and ready to roll now, and it will begin the week of January 8 (unless you have that approved sabbatical, then you do your 30 day sabbatical, then the 60 days, then unemployment will begin).
Severance you will need to document in your unemployment paperwork, but since severance, and not your salary, does not count against you and you will still begin unemployment on Jan 8. I want to say unemployment pays about 60% max of your salary, but the max you will receive regardless is about $800/week at least in CO is how it worked for my spouse earlier this year. But, you want to have it set up ahead of time, so you don't miss any unemployment pay outside, as I don't believe they back pay, or if they do only for like a week. And, then may be some other caveats to it too.
Unemployment is not your full salary either - and you do need to log in every week and show that you are looking for a job
You do have to report ALL the severance you get - and you cannot start drawing unemployment until next year when you stop getting paid
@mer+1pnSyTn2 Google is your friend and a simple search for "severance payment and unemployment" returned this gem:
"Severance is often paid as a lump sum, though it can be paid out in installments as well. With a lump sum payment, you may be entitled to unemployment benefits after you've received that money. Severance that's paid in installments, however, could compromise your ability to collect those benefits since you're still receiving a steady stream of income. But again, the laws vary by state, and in some parts of the country, severance is not considered earned wages for unemployment purposes, which means it won't stop you from collecting benefits."
ref: https://www.fool.com/retirement/2020/05/23/can-i-collect-unemployment-if-im-getting-severance.aspx
Glad to be of help
@rfj+1pnSyTn2 all the contact info is in your package
It seriously didn’t occur to you to file for unemployment? That’s amazing.
@vja+1pnSyTn2 Yeah unemployment doesn't exactly have a phone line where you can just talk to someone and ask them your questions. At least not in my state.
Typically unemployment benefits don’t start until after severance “runs out”. So for example if you get six weeks of severance paid in early January, the state would project out 6 weeks from there and start paying UE benefits like in mid February… if you haven’t found paid work by then.
You can (and should) apply now, but it won't start paying now. You will put in Jan 5th as your last day worked (or whatever they told you all it was). You may also have to report the amount of the severance payment, but I don't know how that specifically works with unemployment.
thats a call to your unemployment office...