Has anyone close to retirement gone in and asked for severance? You know.....I will retire early. You give me severance. I will willingly walk away. I am over all the drama and wondering if I will have a job tomorrow or not and if I do have a job what the heck will they have me doing.
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Does anyone truly know how many managers in systems will be let go? There seems to be no true information out there. And still no true date either.
They are supposed to just give your dates of employment, salary, and title. They are not supposed to say whether or not you quit or got fired or give a reason. They can be sued.
If you do get fired and another employer is doing a background check, does State Farm tell them you were fired or just the dates you worked there?
They’re looking to cut headcount and are executing a long-term layoff strategy. Severance is not mandatory. They could terminate you at-will (with no compensation) if they know you’re willing to go. Like someone else said, you would have to sue them, which is hard to do in an at-will state. State Farm lawyers are smart, and having worked in workforce in the past, I’m guessing there will be future rounds of layoffs. If you’re close to retirement and in a targeted department, you might be on a future layoff list then. Otherwise, you’re better off just doing 0 work and being fired than retiring early without
severance. At least if you’re fired you can receive unemployment. And if youre close to retirement you won’t have to worry about your termination status when applying for new jobs. The choice is, how long can you take the bull?
A conversation with your front line manager about severance is useless. All the decisions are made way over his/her head, and those directives are flowing in one direction only.
If you are prepared to leave you could chance the question ... after they suddenly terminated me I called HR later to discuss and they said there is no discussion, no negotiation. She said I’d have to file suit. Litigation in an at will employment state is very difficult.
It can happen to anyone. After 30 years in claims with almost all of my ratings 2 and 3 (expected or exceeds expected) I was surprised and too trusting of what I was told. I returned last fall from family sick leave (my boss had quit because of the workload and Corp. directives, while I was gone) I was assigned a new boss and huge new inventory all at once. Almost immediately I was expected to work 1,000 plus complex and lit files with only one other coworker repeatedly which put me behind. I kept working hard to catch up, only to have more work requirements piled on, and asked to work on other people’s files daily and told to put my own work aside, it would be ok. Then they wrote me up for not being as proactive on my files, etc. this went on for a few memos and I was assured we would work together to make it to the office closure if I’d just hang in there and keep working hard. I asked if there were any time studies, because the work loads were unsustainable with all their cut backs on overtime and so many people out. The, I was terminated. HR said there was no discussion, no negotiations. I was a year shy of early retirement.
Be prepared and know your options. I received two weeks severance and medical coverage until the end of the month. They cashed out my PTO time. If you have any 401k Loan you get 60 days to repay before penalty kicks in, you can convert Group life at high cost, and disability insurance costs a lot more but not too bad, if you are under 55 in year you are terminated you cannot touch 401k without an extra 10% penalty before you are 59 1/2. Read any documents carefully and watch your dead lines. My local unemployment office has great workshops, help with resume and interview and networking support. Don’t be embarrassed, you are not alone. Realize you will likely be limited in ability to move, buy house or car until you have new job or begin getting your pension. Lenders do not consider unemployment payments as income. I am in third month and still adjusting. Lifeworks has benefits even when you’re terminated. Call them and they will tell you about them. Includes six free counseling sessions. Invaluable. You are important and have value. Recovering from dehumanizing treatment takes time. Good luck. Bravery, courage, forgiveness, and resilience to all going through these tough transitions. They moved our cheese, Be Strong and thrive.
Confident they won’t voluntarily sever you; they’d prefer you just walk if sick of it and ready to go.
What you’re asking is similar to walking in and asking for a raise. That ain’t happening either.