Unemployment is administered by your State Department of Labor. They decide if you get unemployment based on their State administered program and potentially the results of a review process with you and Xerox providing input. There are some procedural differences by State.
Xerox pays for unemployment insurance based on a percentage of employee pay. In many states The more people who they send to the unemployment line to collect benefits, the higher their unemployment insurance rates. In order to lower their unemployment insurance costs, Xerox employs a third party service to validate and in some cases fight unemployment claims. Xerox also attempts to “coach” some people out of the business. In other words, quit or say or do something they can use against them. They can attempt to show cause when they let you go in some cases or offer you a reasonable job. In most states if you are offered reasonable work and you decline it, you are ineligible to collect unemployment.
Xerox will absolutely report to your State that you were offered a similar job and you declined it. The sole purpose is to lower their unemployment insurance costs. I know this because they have done this in the past many times. Xerox fought unemployment for people who were offered a job one or two states away from their current work, knowing the person would decline it.
My opinion is that you should be very careful what you put in writing inside of Xerox right now. You will be pressured to sign documents and make immediate decisions. You don’t have to sign or agree to anything immediately. Don’t sign anything that says you are declining an offer. You should assume that you are being recorded and that HR is going to testify to what you say.
Your immediate focus should be job seeking activities.
Should you apply for unemployment, and be awarded unemployment, it’s less than you are used to weekly and it’s very temporary. Don’t count on it. Don’t expect your last paychecks will be correct either. They may make “mistakes”.
You will lose healthcare upon leaving Xerox, unless you obtain it elsewhere or from next employer. Xerox Cobra healthcare continuance is $1600+ per month, unaffordable for many but not too far from open market costs. Your best investment in time is to seek new employment. If you have any gap in employment, contact health.gov and apply based on new family income. You do not need to wait until end of a year. You may get short term subsidies to significantly lower your healthcare costs.
If you need it, consult an employment attorney licensed in the state where your employment location is.
I wish everyone good luck and I’ll pray for all.
Originally posted by @Y7LpaH9-1qwy.
Good, informative post by @Y7LpaH9-1qwy that should be read by more people.