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Thank you everyone for your feedback. In the letter that I received from my employer paragraph 2, it stated: In order to pay these extra costs and keep our books balanced, we must reduce the size of our workforce and have therefore decided to offer a very generous incentive to employees with two or more years of service to voluntarily resign or retire. For the last two years there have been rumors of another layoff but the last layoff prior was 2011.
As an added protection (even thought he letter does appear to back a workforce reduction) go to this website and check all the months to see if your company is listed. If so, print it out as additional support. If your company is listed, unemployment already is aware of the downsizing so it is usually a pretty straight forward process. Check the site every week or so just to see if anything changes. PA WARN Notices
With regard to PA's treatment of severance pay, it can cause a delay in receipt of benefits, but does not reduce the monetary value of the claim. If you scroll down the example PA shows here: Severance Pension Pay Deductions FAQS
The key wording is the claimant "would not receive any benefits during this 10-week period".
Thanks for that updated info. Indeed, it appears claimant will experience a 20-week delay, but still have sufficient time to collect the full 26 weeks.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DupontCoalKracker
The OP mentioned lump sum severance. In PA you need to be careful waiting to open the claim if you received a lump sum payment. If they wait long enough that the quarter that they received the lump sum is going to be considered in their "base year", PA has the eligibility rule that you must have earned 49.5% of your total base year earnings outside of your highest earning quarter. If you worked the majority of that quarter, received a lump sum severance, plus payout for unused paid time off, you can run into problems. if you are receiving bi-weekly or even weekly severance payments, this is not an issue. PA counts severance that is taxed as normal wages to be "earnings" to constitute base year wages. While severance is countable as base year earnings, severance or salary continuation cannot be used to satisfy PA's requirement for earning 6X your weekly benefit amount to qualify for a subsequent or back to back UC claims.
THIS is the biggest reason to file when terminated. We've had others here try to deal w/PA on the issue of unbalanced quarters for reasons other than severance - and it's almost always a loss for the claimant. That 49.5% can be a claim-killer.
So, thank you for your very clear input. I stand corrected.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chyvan
DCK, I want to believe you because that's how my state works. Ariadne22, however, has been around a long time. She says it was a complaint that people got cheated. I don't want to tell her she's wrong.
I'm happy to stand corrected and have clarification on the exact treatment of severance when PA says "deduct." Too many states are just zeroing out the monetary award. Last discussions from PA claimants took place quite a while ago (years) and revolved around an extremely lengthy delay in collecting benefits. As a result, PA severance has always been an issue in my mind - especially because it disregards severance under the average annual wage, and then factors in anything above that.
That said, inasmuch as PA views severance as wages, clearly any delay in filing beyond one quarter risks an unbalanced high quarter.
So, I agree - OP should do as DCK states - file in September after he is terminated.
I have been a "lurker" on the forum for awhile before I registered and I am amazed at how members like Chvyvan, Ariadne22, Rabrrita and others are able to interpret and remember the UI regulations from multiple states. The service you provide for the average citizen is a Godsend, whether the posters realize it or not. I have a hard enough time keeping Pennsylvania's regulations straight, and my job requires close interaction with my colleagues in UC on a daily basis.
When I came on the job pre-Diehl court decision, I could not understand why claimants were being denied under the voluntary layoff provision of the PA UC law. I was pointed to some court decisions and I still could not understand how a law school graduate could twist the plain language of the law as the General Assembly wrote it to arrive at the pre-Diehl interpretation. For quite some time after the Diehl decision we had UC Examiners across the state adjudicating claimants under the old precedent. 30-years of doing things one way dies hard I guess.
I cannot speak intelligently to Michigan's severance regulations, but I can say with certainty that PA's severance regulations have never reduced the monetary value of a UC claim. It is possible that the older posters from PA may not have understood that when benefit year expires, any monies remaining on the claim vaporize, there is no carryover of unused funds. In my experience, most claimants see that as unfair. They are also usually angry that having a claim expire with a remaining balance and receiving severance payments doesn't create eligibility for a second claim.
To the OP, I am not certain what your plans are for the future as far as whether or not you want to rejoin the workforce on a full time basis or not, so please do not take any offense to this information. I met an 87 year old woman who was losing her job at grocery warehouse and she told me she still wanted to work part time to stay busy. I have also met people that wanted to retire as soon as humanly possible whether it made financial sense to do so or not.
Social Security Retirement benefits are NOT deductible from UC benefits in Pennsylvania, so if you make the decision to start receiving Soc Sec Retirement, it will have no impact on your UC benefits. Defined Benefit pension plan payments and/or lump sum distributions or periodic payments from defined contribution retirement plans (401(k), employer operated IRA, 457 plans, 403(b) plans) can cause an offset reduction of your UC benefits. The offset does not reduce the monetary value of the claim, and whether or not you want to try to receive both at the same time is not a one size fits all answer because it depends on a lot of different variables. If you need access to some of your retirement funds, if you move it from the employer sponsored plan and do a "trustee to trustee rollover" (you never see or touch the check) and you move that money into a private IRA at your financial institution and then withdraw the funds, UC has nothing to say about that since the connection to the employer was severed when you moved it to a private account.
When you file your initial claim, which you can do by phone or internet, and I suggest the internet for people who have little experience dealing with UC, you will be asked the reason for your separation from a drop down box of options. DO NOT use retirement as the reason for your separation. That tells the UC folks two things 1.) You are a voluntary quit 2.) You may not be "able & available" for work. It will take you 4-8 weeks of adjudication and appeals to fix that mistake.
You can simply choose "Lack of Work" and report that you are receiving a severance, and that it will be in excess of the $19,800 threshold. You can also choose Downsizing as the reason for separation. In my experience, choosing Downsizing will trigger the UC Claims Examiner to inquire further with you and your former employer for additional information about the situation, beyond the normal forms that they send out. While UC is sorting out your severance determination, and waiting for your employer to respond to questions about their downsizing program, continue to file for your benefits on a bi-weekly basis. When things get sorted out, those benefits will be paid all at once, but only if you have been filing bi-weekly the whole time.
If you are going to receive a payout of accrued unused vacation, report the gross amount to UC in the week in which you receive that payout. Vacation payout is not deductible from benefits if you do not have a written or verbal recall to work date from your employer, which you obviously will not have.
When I am working with a company that is going to have a large layoff, my UC Field Representative provides the employer with a spreadsheet template and the employer provides the severance, annual wages, unused vacation payouts, date of separation and reason for separation etc to the UC folks electronically. This dramatically speeds up the adjudication process and gets benefits flowing to the claimants faster since the employer is not filling out the paperwork on an individual basis.
I am not sure where you reside, but PA has Rapid Response Field Representatives and a counterpart UC Field Representative covering all 67 counties in the state and we'd be happy to work with your employer and the affected employees so they can get answers and make informed decisions about their next steps. You and your employer pay UC taxes, so both of you have pre-paid for these outplacement services already. We can't force the employer to play ball with us, but most are happy to have the services for their employees.
if you move it from the employer sponsored plan and do a "trustee to trustee rollover" (you never see or touch the check) and you move that money into a private IRA at your financial institution and then withdraw the funds, UC has nothing to say about that since the connection to the employer was severed when you moved it to a private account.
Again, you show you know what you're talking about. If only more people knew and there was a way to spread this knowledge so that people would stop making ignorant mistakes.
I have been a "lurker" on the forum for awhile before I registered and I am amazed at how members like Chvyvan, Ariadne22, Rabrrita and others are able to interpret and remember the UI regulations from multiple states. The service you provide for the average citizen is a Godsend, whether the posters realize it or not. I have a hard enough time keeping Pennsylvania's regulations straight, and my job requires close interaction with my colleagues in UC on a daily basis.
Well, welcome. We are pleased you decided to unlurk. It is extremely helpful to have someone actually in the trenches at the state level participating in this forum. A while back, for about two years during EUC and CA's debacle of a transition to new software, a CA EDD Appeals Division supervisor monitored CD (I think to determine claimant issues) and posted only very occasionally. His input, however, provided clarity in areas on which we could only conjecture - despite CA's great online resource, the UIBDG - which answers a lot, but not everything. It's been about a year, now, since he's last visited and I still miss him.
Thank you also for your valuable information. I do live in Philadelphia, PA. Thanks again to everyone for responding. It makes this process easier with helpful answers.
The PA Department of Labor & Industy Rapid Response Field Rep that covers Philadelphia County is Ms. Anita Cook. 215-987-6503
She can reach out to your employer and try to set up some informational meetings with employees who are considering accepting the separation package. You and your colleagues can get your questions answered and make educated decisions.
Thank you again. That would be great to have a meeting to get to understand all the basics.
JAS
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It is extremely helpful to have someone actually in the trenches at the state level participating in this forum. A while back, for about two years during EUC and CA's debacle of a transition to new software, a CA EDD Appeals Division supervisor monitored CD (I think to determine claimant issues) and posted only very occasionally. His input, however, provided clarity in areas on which we could only conjecture - despite CA's great online resource, the UIBDG - which answers a lot, but not everything. It's been about a year, now, since he's last visited and I still miss him.
