My position at Cisco was eliminated in Nov of 2020 (massive LR). The specific language of the separation agreement is that "you are not giving up the rights to unemployment claims".
So I took the package, and when getting re-hired took longer than I anticipated, applied for Unemployment benefits. My claim was approved, and I consumed benefits until finding another wage comparable job in Q1 of 2021.
Now several months into a new job, I got notice from the unemployment office that my former employer (Cisco) was claiming that the loss of my job was for a reason "other than lack of work".
I was forced to disclose my separation agreement, as well as emails that I had saved from Cisco while going through the adjudication process. The thought of having to pay back over $22K in this environment was crushing (with Government threats of placing liens on my home, taxes, etc).
Fortunately yesterday, I received notice from my unemployment department that they were APPROVING my claim despite Cisco's claims to the contrary.
This got me thinking about the whole LR process (which was conducted over Webex with my Mgr reading a script with a HR rep on the call). I got the feeling that it was designed to not leave evidence of the true business reason for the layoff, and leave Cisco with the option of denying the claim of unemployment (which impacts their unemployment tax rates state by state).
My advice to any Cisco employee getting setup for the "LR Webex": (1) Request that the webex be recorded (if they won't, then say you want copies of the script, or flat up leave the meeting), (2) Ask if the LR elimination of your position is specifically related to lack of work on the call, (3) Export all of your LR related Outlook emails to a PST before departing in order to protect your claims should Cisco attempt to deny them months after you are locked away from evidence, and (4) Save all LR related documents, including screenshots of LR portals.
I was naive in trusting Cisco was looking after me, and was lucky enough to have saved enough of the documents (and emails) to prove my case. Protect yourself, because if you don't nobody will.