[jrib]

not an expert, but my understanding is it depends on how the severance is paid off.

If the company keeps you on payroll and pays you weekly, then you cannot collect unemployment. If the company gives you a lump sum then you may be able to.

If a condition of the severance is that you sign a document saying you are quitting instead of being fired, then you cannot collect unemployment.

My understanding comes from recent googling because of similar layoffs that happened at my company. I'd welcome more informed thoughts on the matter.

[gamblor956]

If a condition of the severance is that you sign a document saying you are quitting instead of being fired, then you cannot collect unemployment.

This is false. If a company makes you sign a statement that you are quitting instead of being fired as a condition of getting severance, they are committing unemployment insurance fraud and are subject to civil and criminal sanction in most states.

(The point of trying to make employees do this is to avoid claims against the company's unemployment insurance account in the state. How UI works differs from state to state, but in all instances claims against UI increases the company's ongoing UI expense.)

[bastardoperator]

This is how people get caught for fraud in quite a few cases too. They create a one sided contract that outlines their fraud and then they distribute it to people who run straight to lawyers, as they should.

[bombcar]

And a key giveaway is that companies rarely pay severance to people who actually quit.

[UncleOxidant]

> If the company gives you a lump sum then you may be able to.

Yep, in the case of the lump sum you're not being paid after you're given the lump sum. I was laid off in 2014. Got 4 months in a lump sum when I went out the door. There were no problems applying for unemployment.

[johnvanommen]

I had a layoff like that, they gave me the option of choosing. Lump sum or "stay on the payroll but have no access."

I went with the latter because it paid better.

For a while I was always stressed out about background checks, because it showed that I was working two jobs. (I got a job to replace it almost immediately, but continued to get paid by the old place.)

[xwdv]

Sorry but where exactly would a background check show you have two jobs?

[pxeboot]

> where exactly would a background check show you have two jobs

"The Work Number" is a very popular service for this. They are owned by Equifax.

[leesalminen]

The payroll companies sell your data to prospective employers sometimes included in a background report bundled deal.

[throwaway019254]

Usually company doing a background check calls all your previous employers to verify dates of your employment.