Hypothetical question: say you get laid off on September 16, but accept a job offer outside of Cisco and plan to leave soon after, say September 20. Would LR severance be cut short? A previous comment somewhere else indicated your severance ends as soon as you leave.
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No severance until you stay employed through end of period to sign waivers. If you start on another job, while getting paid by Cisco (doing double dipping), both Cisco and new employer can find this out a fad then you risk loosing both.
I guess it depends on the employer. A LONG time ago, the company I worked for announced they were going to close our TX facility and move it to AZ. We were given 11 months notice that they were laying everyone except engineers off & engineers were offered relocation packages to move, but no pay increases for the higher cost of living and the fact that AZ had a state income tax and TX didn't. I accepted a new job with a start date before my current employment ended and I took my accrued PTO, 3 weeks worth, so that I could start my new job and stay employed at my old job until the termination date so I could draw my 2 week's severance, plus 2 week's additional severance for signing the agreement not to sue, and I got 1 more week for having a year's service. They made the announcement about the closure 5 months after I had started, so I was lucky that the termination date was 11 months out as I had 7 months left on my new-hire agreement to re-pay the relocations benefits I'd received to take the job, which was almost $20K.
Given how you're not expected to work once you are notified, what is there to prevent you from accepting a new job? I'd be upfront w/ the new employer, and possibly see if they can delay your start date until after the termination date, or if they see any concerns with you starting while currently employed. As to Cisco finding out, do they really care? They're the ones letting us go and as long as we don't break any NDA's we might have signed, try to share any Cisco proprietary data, etc., then why would Cisco care? And they can't find out until the new employer starts withholding taxes out of your pay check & reports the income to the IRS, which usually is at least a month. You have to work 2 weeks, then get paid at the end of the next 2 week pay period. By that time, you're no longer an employee and why would Cisco be checking?
To answer the original question of "Would LR severance be cut short?" No. You are entitled to the severance package as long as you don't "quit" before being notified. Once notified, during that 1st 30 days of non-working employment, you can quit and sign the paperwork at that time. You forfeit the pay from the day you sign to the end of the 30 day period. You are then paid the remaining 30 days "in lieu" of notice, plus the additional severance package if you sign the agreement not to sue.
Using your dates as an example.
You're notified on 16 Sept. Your last day as an employee is 15 Oct. You're paid wages and benefits from 16 Sept to 15 Oct as an employee via your normal paycheck on paydays. On 15 Oct, you're supposed to sign the agreement, or not, and you then receive a lump sum payment of the pay and benefits for Oct 16 - Nov 15 plus the grossed up COBRA, and if the agreement is signed, 4 more months of pay. But, since you're quitting on Sept 20, you sign the paperwork, or not, on the 20th and your employment ends immediately. You receive your pay from the last paid pay period to Sept 20 in a lump sum, the pay/benefits from Oct 16 - Nov 15 plus the grossed up COBRA payments, and the additional severance package if you sign. You only lose the income from Sept 21 - Oct 16. At least, that was how it was explained to me by HR in 2016.
I found my new employment and started 45 days after I was notified, so I'd already signed my paperwork at the 30 day mark, turned in my laptop and badge, and started my new job 15 days later. But I had to ask because the new employer was considering onboarding me quickly and then changed their minds due to the difficulties in getting a laptop for me and getting my accounts setup on day one.
The two months is "in lieu of notice". You're gone from that date. I would take the job.
If LR'd, I would accept the other Job and start.. You are under zero obligation to work and have limited access to internal CSCO. So from where I am sitting, no conflict of interest and I think there is no issues with "moonlighting" if it does not conflict with your current job... I seriously doubt that CSCO would be looking for people that have accepted a new job to take away the severance..
No severance until you stay employed through end of period to sign waivers. If you start on another job, while getting paid by Cisco (doing double dipping), both Cisco and new employer can find this out a fad then you risk loosing both. Stay clean, and ethically simple to collect your severance or to leave after giving two weeks notice. Why take chances and outsmart yourself and the system and get bitten in butts? Cisco has plenty of lawyers to recover severance even if they pay and later find out.
Technically, it likely would I would think unless there's an option to sign the paperwork early. The other option is simply don't say anything. If you're already LR'd and you aren't expected to work just start the job and finish out your package. If you provide them 2 weeks and you're still employed though, they'll know and you likely won't be eligible if you leave in that first 60 day window.