What is the best an old 'blue' employee can hope for in a severance package? Rule of 75 doesn't apply. He is 63 and has 17 years with the company. Has been a telecommuter and just barely 50 miles from a hub. Is he simply screwed after all this time?
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What’s the best option for a newer employee ( July would make 5yrs for me so I guess I’d be considered 4 years?)
¹ Are there any negatives to leaving feb 18 and not sticking out the 60 days if I’m not planning on staying anyway?
² Is the March 6 Bonus still paid out if you’re surplussed? Assuming there is one, and that I’m not shafted out of it?!
³ What about vacation time/days? I know I’ve heard they don’t pay them out? What if I have 21 days of time to use and I want to exit on the 18th?
Also, I was notified on Monday last week and still haven’t been able to access the Mesa system or documents. I know these answers will be in there (I think?) and I plan on calling hr(?) or whoever to get my access fixed tomorrow, mon 2/4, but these questions are kinda killing me to know Now!
AT&T's modified only only applies when you hit specific ages., 65 years old and 10 years of service, 55 years old and 20 years of service, 50 years old and 25 years of service, or any age and 30 years of service.
For example, someone who is hired at age 42 and wishes to retire with AT&T would have a combined age and years of service in 17 years. Unfortunately, 42+17= 59 years of age and AT&T skips 60 years of age in their rule of 75. Therefore, this person must work another 6 years to qualify for retirement. Is this dishonest or deceptive? I have no idea, ask an attorney.
There is supposedly a two year shortfall but one has to forego half their severance I think to take the additional two years as someone else on here under another thread discussed this....He was glad to find there was a 2 year shortfall but very unhappy he had to give up half of his severance to take it.....I would search on the ATT layoff site to pull up that thread and remarks and feedback...
There are way too many folks here that dont understand the modified rule of 75 and will be very disappointed when this party ends. It is NOT X PLUS Y = 75. I suggest you either read your contract (union) or the information SPD for management. This matters more than anything relative to any BENEFITS YOU MAY OR MAY NOT RECEIVE.
Old CINGULAR “Blue” employees are not eligible for any retirement benefits, except for their cash balance pension fund and of course any 401K funds they have.
For many jobs at AT&T, it isn't the Rule of 75. It's the Modified Rule of 75, which states that retirement is attained at 30 years of service, any age, or 25 years of service and 50 years age, or 20 years of service, and 55 years of age, or 10 years of service and 65 years of age.
There are no in-betweens.
63 + 17 = 80. Why do you think the Rule of 75 doesn’t apply?
TLOA ( Transitional leave of absence ) was an option for me in midwest craft IBEW last year, however I found another wage group one position, so it was a moot point.
Just to put the information out there for folks, I was told TLOA was up to 2 years for craft IBEW when I went through surplus process.
If old “blue” is manager (not union), severance would be equal to 6 month’s pay. In my state (Calif), severance is not considered wages as far as collecting unemployment benefits so he would be eligible for unemployment benefits on day 8 for at least 6 months worth of weekly benefits. I’ve heard that some states make you wait through 6 months severance period before you can qualify for unemployment. He should check the rules for his state on unemployment website.
Although he is fully invested in pension (based on years of services mentioned), it would be wise to delay collecting that pension money until unemployment payments run out because pension from most recent employer (the employer that lays you off) would affect unemployment benefits.
If your friend is healthy, it would also be wise to delay starting social security payments for as long as he can if there are other sources of income to get by on after unemployment runs out. The longer he waits, the higher the lifetime monthly social security payment will be.
When the former separate company AT&T Wireless merged with Cingular in 2005, the ATTWS Folks were the "Blue" side and Cingular was the "Orange" side. It was not meant to be derogatory, it was just a way of identifying the networks. There was a lot of network combining and there were a LOT of firewall issues for network access because there were a lot of duplicate IP addresses, for example. In fact, Cingular had a facility location in Rochelle Park, NJ and ATTWS also had a facility there, on the same street, a few buildings down, with the same kind of equipment! So we had to be careful to ID is it the Blue or Orange gear.
Regardless of the rule, he is vested and can take his lump sum pension and 401k without penalty and move it from fidelity and live off the interests or distribution. He can also start collecting his social security now. Folks don’t forget you are eligible for unemployment until it runs out.
Like most, you didn't list the business unit or whether we're talking about a Union represented employee or non-union (Management). I haven't the foggiest idea what a "blue" employee is.
Most units have the "modified" rule of 75. In this employee's case, it is probably age 65 and 10 years of service. So, the question is whether or not there is some kind of transitional leave available that will bridge the 2 year shortfall in age.
Where I came from, there was a one year TLA. But, I'm reading elsewhere that some people get a two year TLA, actually they called it a TLOA (Transitional leave of absence).
If the employee has been surplussed, he/she should scour the separation package for options, especially for leaves of absence, or words that say "bridge".