Thread regarding GE Oil & Gas layoffs

I got laid off in March. Everything about the severance posted above is correct, with some additions:

1) It is one week of severance per year of service, but if you have less than 4 years (like I did) they round up to 4 weeks. I only worked there for 2-1/2 years but I got 4 weeks of pay.

2) The extra 2 weeks you get is if you waive your right to sue for wrongful termination, age discrimination, stuff like that. I had nothing to sue them over so I signed. Hey, free money!

3) You have to pay your own medical, but for the first 6 months you're paying the same rate you did when you worked there, though when you were working you had it taken out of your paycheck. Now, you have to pay them yourself. You can have it automatically drafted from your bank account, or you can log in monthly and put it on your credit card to get miles. But if you miss the payment due date, you lose your discounted medical rate.

4) You also get 3 months of job placement service, starting from when you contact the company (NOT from the date of your layoff). They will help with resumes, cover letters, interview skills, job boards, etc.

I was in the Leadership (level 2) band, I don't know if there's anything different for the Professional (level 1) or Senior (level 3) bands.

Yep...took about 6 months but found something in chemical. Severance is indeed a week of pay for each year worked plus they did offer me another 2 weeks pay if I signed an agreement not to sue. You also get your medical paid for 6 months (after that its cobra), 12 months protected status (basically you are still apart of GE and have first opportunity for consideration of other GE jobs), our GUL is portable (you start paying upon layoff though at current group rates), pension (if you had one is portable, BUT you will have to resign from protected status to gain access to the funds or to roll over into a new fund). Severance is NOT a lump sum...its paid biweekly of your regular salary until it ru4-8ns dry (depending on what you are offered it should last about 3-4 pay periods). TWC will accept your claim for unemployment benefits, HOWEVER you will not see a dime until your severance runs dry and they have know when that occurs. I did not start receiving benefits until about 6 weeks after leaving the company. This is actually kind of a good thing if you have spouse drawing a decent check in that severance + unemployment likely gets you about 8 months before running the well dry completely. That is PLENTY of time to find a job here in Houston if you have skillsets that are just as desirable outside O).

Oil & gas is going down. There will be severance for every yr worked and 60 day notice as long as 30 or more employees are laid off. Severance is good compared to smaller companies. Yall will be fine if worst comes to worst. We've all lost our jobs and are making it.