Corporate Layoffs - Ten Important Considerations
This article provides an excellent list of considerations for anyone affected by company downsizing. It's important not to panic or let emotions overrule logic at this critical time, (e.g., avoid burning any bridges, as when better times emerge experienced workers are often the first to be rehired). Following these steps won't necessarily ease the pain, but they can help improve your chances for landing on your feet to a brighter future ahead.
Corporate Layoffs - Ten Important Considerations
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Careers/10-Things-to-Know-If-Youve-Been-PinkSlipped/
QUOTE: The layoff experience is nothing short of a nightmare, and it goes so quickly, employees rarely have time to consider their rights. When the economy slides into a recession, layoffs are inevitable. Whether it's three or four people laid off, a massive downsizing or a company that has been forced to shut its doors, the layoff experience is nothing short of a nightmare for most workers.
Years and even decades of valued work, input and influence on a company comes to a screeching halt in a surprisingly formal and succinct process. Rarely are the pink-slipped given time to download personal documents from their computers or say goodbye to peers. If severance is involved, there will be papers to sign. HR might want an exit interview. And that's all there is. The process happens so quickly, most are too stunned and shaken to consider what rights or entitlements they do or do not have.
SUMMARY OF TEN KEY CONSIDERATIONS
1. Go to HR First
2. Your Rights from Written Agreements
3. What Company Policies Entitle You To
4. Your Statutory Rights
5. What You Are and Are Not Owed
6. How Severance Does and Does Not Work
7. What Signing a Release Means
8. What Benefits You're Entitled To
9. Why Employers Want to Minimize Your Trouble
10. What the Recession Will Mean for the Laid-Off