Well, COVID has struck me personally at this time. This is the first time I've ever been laid off so this will be interesting. We are doing a rolling furlough 1 month on, 1 month off.

How have you guys handled this situation? How difficult is it to get unemployment? Are there any catches I should be aware of?

Your signature line is a little ironic, given the topic of your post.

Sorry brother, it sucks. Our company has 20% of the workforce working, boss furloughed two office employees.

I don't know how you manage the 50% on 50% off. I am sure that will be fun dealing with. I find myself for the first time in all my time on the planet looking into unemployment, luckily I just found out my boss is trying for the SBA loans, fingers crossed.

Furloughed today too, this morning!

Tomorrow. We need to end this madness tomorrow.

I've been on furlough since the middle of last month.

I already had an unemployment claim opened from the beginning of the year, which I got one payment and closed it since we started picking up hours and had "excessive earnings" to receive assistance.

Since the furlough, all I had to do was log in and re-activate my claim.

I suggest to open up a claim asap since you have to wait about a week or two as a waiting period before you can even "certify for benefits".

I've been furloughed, it was not the best of times, but it was survivable.

For us, the first thing was to sit down and prioritize needs. It's amazing what we think we need in daily life that we really don't. For me, the biggest thing was to keep active. Going outside, moving, working out, learning new stuff all were great at keeping me sane. Keep in touch with people, interact.

As far as unemployment, it varies greatly state by state, so that is going to be the kicker for you. Moth on month off may make it hard to convince your state office that you are truly out of work. I can't say for certain. Being a government bureaucracy, it REALLY depends on local offices and their personnel.

Attitude is everything, and remember, this too shall pass.

Wife was told Monday her hours are being cut along with everyone else in the department and the lady that put in her notice about a month ago was to be done next Friday was told not to come back.
Wife currently work the minimum number of hours for benefits. Not sure yet if that will be adjusted.
So far it is about a wash since we aren’t paying for daycare. If she looses the benefits because of the reduction in pay that will sting.
We get a medical reimbursement that reimburses most of the monthly medical premium for insurance from my work and also reimburses out of pocket expenses not covered by insurance.

So we’ll see what happens.

I'm sorry you find yourself in this bind, but I'm sure more and more of us will end up in a similar situation. I understand the Covid bailout has provisions for employed workers receiving a reduced paycheck. I'd like to find out more but can't find any clear description that fits my circumstance.

I'm not laid off or reduced hours. I'm still considered full time but with a 20% pay cut. My MIL's new husband worked 20+ years at CA's Employment Development Department. He suggested to file for unemployment insurance. My employer would receive notification of my claim and they'd have to dispute it or challenge it.

Good luck getting past this. You're not alone.

Sorry for your situation and for the others out there. As for me and my family and friends, we have been untouched so far, thank God. I even received an email from my retirement plan today stating that my checks will not be affected.

My wife's hours have been cut by 25% (she's an RN). My assignment closed and I'm now working a couple of days a week. I filed for unemployment a week before I knew my schedule was going to be affected. Got my first unemployment check this week. It wasn't much (<$100) but it's something.

In NH, you must file EVERY week, otherwise they close your claim and you must reopen it again. If I earn more than the weekly unemployment benefit, I get nothing, but I've kept my claim active! Good luck to those of you who are trying to collect! Do EVERYTHING they ask and hopefully, they will help you out!

I am doing a 30 day voluntary furlough, I go back May 1. I am safe until September 30, then our company can cut our pay or lay us off.

My wife and I are considered essential personnel so no layoffs/furloughs but, I have everyone in my thoughts that are. I pray that all works out for everyone out there.

Take care and positive vibes!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by 357fuzz:
My wife and I are considered essential personnel so no layoffs/furloughs but, I have everyone in my thoughts that are. I pray that all works out for everyone out there.

Take care and positive vibes!!!!

Yeah, I’m considered ‘essential’ as well, nevertheless, we go on reduced hours starting next week, from 40 to 32. This continues till end of April then re-evaluated with a complete furlough possible.
We’re an environmental lab and even though we’re busy now, if/when our clients’ workloads weaken, we will feel it down the line, thus the contingency plans now.

This will be the same or worse than the housing collapse. You will literally be fighting for crummy positions if you look to make a change. Most employers hiring will take full advantage of the situation and pay you less. And the job will probably suck. And that’s if you can even find a job. I’ve been through some pretty horrific shit as it pertains to employment and timing but this will take the cake.

Unemployment, sign up immediately. You have to apply for so many positions a week, save the date, the submission, etc, but I have no idea because if you are rotating on/off you basically still have a job. No experience with that. Unemployment will be direct deposited onto a card at a bank in your state. You’ll have to manually transfer the money to your bank account. The money they give you will be peanuts compared to your normal check. Here it’s $400 and change a week. My advice would be don’t let them take taxes out of it, worry about the taxes on the unemployment compensation later. Hopefully you are/were W2, if you are 1099, at least my state, they will deny.

You’ll have to learn to speak Indian, which is my slang for Indian English as the entire recruitment, contracting business, etc was farmed out to them 15 years ago. Nothing like an overseas worker who you can barely communicate with asking for your social security number to apply for a job. And that’s a contract position, not perm. Perm positions will be scarce. It’s a hard road spending 8 hours a day applying for positions and getting no where for weeks and months on end so it will take all the positivity you can muster. There will be contract positions around to stay afloat so take whatever you can get and stay in looking for a job mode 100% of the time. That means if you land a gig, always be looking for the next one as the wind could change at any time. I learned that lesson the hard way, to never get comfortable in the situation. The people willing to upend and work out of state have the best chances.

Best advice is to remove any expectations you have. I truly feel for you if it’s your first time being laid off during duress. It’s going to be a very harsh reality for many. Be prepared to crack open any retirement money you have. I’ve had to go through it 7 times. A few Ch. 11’s by the companies I worked for, some M&A’s, dot.com bust, telecomm bust, housing collapse. None of it was performance related and I will never financially recover, impossible at this point. The harsh reality is it will be survival of the fittest as it pertains to employment. The major change I see right now compared to the housing collapse is the Federal Government actually doing something for workers.

I too am in the same boat.... I have not been working either as our business ( For those of you that don’t know “I am a hairstylist by day, knife maker by weekend” is shut down....44 years I have been doing hair, and poof........ No income from a (what I thought) was a recession proof business. This isn’t even a recession (yet).

Thank God we are a little more fortunate than most, but man, some real changes gotta happen. For the first time I think in my 62 almost 63 years I’m very nervous.My wonderful Wife works for Vanderbilt University as a Counselor for Students and is doing video counseling. People are getting desperate. Let’s all breathe.....Do all you can, do your part. Have patience, kindness, and try and be positive. I personally am focusing on just how lucky we really are. There is a lot of wacky shi$ going on out there.

Be healthy and well my Sigforum family..

I got the word about three weeks ago when I was on vacation visiting my parents in Florida

I guess I picked the wrong week to go on vacation.

I signed up immediately but for some reason NC has put a hold on my account stating that I refused to work. So now I have to debate/appeal that glitch. How can I refuse to work when I just got furloughed.

The other half is still working so that is good, and we have a little saved away for a rainy day. For the last three years or so we have live a boring life just to save money, and also we fell into a rut. I am so glad that we did now.

I also contacted US Army Reserve HR and volunteered to go on active orders if they need anyone.

Even though I have been furloughed with no end in sight, I still have my health care and that is what I am really grateful for.

This morning we are having a plumber come out and see what is wrong with either the well or the well pump. Thank the heavens that it is under the home warranty or it could really sting.

I just got told this morning that I was being furloughed effective today. Totally sucks. I'm a PM for an engineering company that does work for the oil, steel and chemical industries. They are deferring a lot of their projects and our work load in down. At 65 it is going to be hard to find a job if I don't get called back. Totally sucks. Did I mention that it totally sucks?

My wife and I had to close our business 2 weeks ago.

Passed my screen out interview today for Amazon (AWS), got second phone interview scheduled for next week, if I get pass that one I get to do a three third interviews (or would that be interviews 3, 4, & 5?) I lack the previous specific work experience, but I have a Master's license which is above the prerequisites, hopefully that will carry some weight.

Also current job told me he will cover my health insurance for the time being and that he's applying for the SBA loans to get us all 8 weeks pay.

Hopefully one of the two happens and I either get back to work (whenever) or get to work in a giant empty building with lots of servers and little people.