Unemployment Compensation, Part 10

[babysladkaya]

Severance could be structured as a lump-sum payment, or a salary continuation payment. If one receives the lump-sum, he may apply for unemployment. However, if one receives salary continuation, he would have to wait till the payments are over in order to apply. I know it might sound counterintuitive, but many folks, especially those in the higher level positions whom it would take at least 3, or maybe even 6 months to land their next job, will almost always prefer the salary continuation scenario over the lump-sum and also, work out an agreement with the company that their official termination date would not be the date they were let go, but the last date of the continuation payment. All this is done in order to keep an appearance of being employed which gives one more leverage with the potential future employer. Other "perks" that could be worked into the severance agreement is the ability to keep the desk, phone and email address.
It is not true that one needs to receive salary continuation in order to keep the medical benefits. By law, regardless of whether the employee was terminated with/without severance, companies are required to extend COBRA benefits to employees, meaning, the employee will be covered at the same premium the company was paying, and many companies also cover the cost of the premiums for several months, this is all negotiable.
I hope your friend has not yet signed the severance agreement-30 years of work for one company, I take it, she is over 40-I would strongly recommend to have this agreement checked by an employment attorney, he might be able to wriggle more money out of the company.

[babysladkaya]

And the NYS unemployment is not 99 weeks anymore. I think it's a bit over a year because apparently, NYS is doing better than tha national unemployment rate, so the extended benefits got cut off.