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Two words: Apply
immediately!
If
you are or will be receiving severance payments from your
company you will likely still qualify for unemployment.
We
have seen people who assumed, erroneously, that "If I'm receiving
severance I can't receive unemployment at the same time".
Many of these lost out on the 13-week extensions that were implemented
in 2002 and now in 2003 costing them a few thousand dollars.
The
key issue is in the severance agreement terms. 99.9% of the time
employers specify in a severance agreement that you give up
the right to sue the company. In this case - you qualify
for unemployment immediately whether or not you are currently
receiving severance payments.
If
you did not give up the right to sue and you don't want or expect
to sue your former employer, then you should either ask the severance
agreement to be revised to give up this right or, maybe, send
your former employer a notarized letter indicating something along
the lines of "in consideration of the severance payments
outlined in our agreement of XX/XX/XX, I hereby forfeit the right
to sue the company".
So
don't wait. Apply now! We've found the D.E.T to be very efficient
and helpful.
Note: Always confirm
these comments with MA DET.
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