My friend is a customer service rep who is ready to retire. Her company is talking about layoffs with 13+ weeks of severance, but when she asked (anonymously) if they were accepting volunteers, they said no. In case she’s not one of the ones told to clean out her desk, what are the ways she could get terminated while preserving her ability to claim unemployment (which would equal the 13 weeks of severance)?
UPDATE: She took my advice and saw her doctor. He agreed that she’s experiencing a job-related stress injury, set her up with a Disability claim, and referred her for psychiatric counseling.
That’s not a legally fireable offense in the USA.
I thought the idea was to “get severance”. Which would be "it’s cheaper to pay severance than permit them to continue disturbing the workplace. Sounds like you’re trying to advocate doing something illegal.
Ideally she wants to be laid off. But if that doesn’t happen she wants to retire. I’ve been trying to convince her that retiring means no severance and no unemployment, so getting fired without cause is her next best option.
That’s the goal here though. If she wants to collect unemployment getting fired without cause is the plan.
I understand that, but the company isn’t going to outright say that’s why an employee is terminated. They’ll make up a reason, first.
It’s not in Australia either but it definitely happens. Seen it personally. Nobody will become a union representative if they’ve seen the last 3 not have their contract renewed for unknown reasons.