Unemployment Insurance

Many of you have asked about whether you can still qualify for unemployment insurance if you take the buyout. This is a question worth asking, as it points to the major difference between the buyout package and (layoff) severance benefits. We have asked the company this question several times, and based on their answers, here's the best way I can describe the differences between the two options (I use that term loosely, as a layoff is by no means an option):

BUYOUT: If you take a buyout, you will receive the monetary package offered by the company (1 week for every completed 6 months of service, etc.). You also will receive your health insurance benefits for that same time period, and you are responsible for paying your own premiums quarterly. At one point, we believed you would not receive unemployment, but Ann Barnes, the company's labor relations representative, tells us that is not necessarily true. When other bought-out employees have applied for unemployment, she told us, they have received it, as far as she knows. That is because the company officially reports a buyout as "position elimination," a term that signals to the government that you are entitled to unemployment insurance. Barnes stressed that she can't speak for how the government would respond to all applicants for unemployment, but repeatedly said that she knows of no one in the past who has been denied. There is a cap on how long you can receive unemployment, but I don't know what that cap is. There's also some confusion as to whether you get it while you're still getting Sun money, or if it kicks in afterward. These are things to research if you're considering the buyout.

LAY OFF: If you are laid off, you will receive a paycheck up until the "effective date of the layoff," which -- according to the contract -- is four weeks after you receive your notice. So, if the company sends layoff notices on July 18th, as representatives have suggested they might, the effective date of the layoff is four weeks later, or about Aug. 15th. After that, severance pay kicks in. Severance is calculated roughly the same as the buyout is, that is, 1 week of pay for every completed 6 months of service. You absolutely can apply for unemployment insurance if you are laid off, and in fact, should do so IMMEDIATELY after getting a lay off notice to start the process. We're talking about the government here; swiftness is not a selling point.
You will not be eligible for health insurance continuation if you are laid off, but there is one benefit. Under the contract, the Sun must put all laid off employees on a "recall" list for two years. This means that if the Sun intends to hire another employee in your classification ("reporter," "copy editor," "critic," etc.) they are required to call you and offer you the job first (by order of seniority). For some of you out there, this might be an attractive option.

For both buyouts and layoffs, there are steep tax consequences, so no one should believe that their "paycheck" would be exactly the same as it is now. Please see Lynn's earlier posting to get an idea about the buyout taxes. Layoff taxes, I understand, range from about 40-44 percent.


Lastly, for those of you who weren't able to make it to our mini-meeting after bargaining closed late Friday, the update is that we (the Guild leadership) will meet again at 9:30 a.m. Monday to discuss what we have been hearing from you and where to go next. It is true that the company has set a noon deadline for us to let them know if we will participate in this buyout offer. We will absolutely meet with the company well before that deadline.

Thinking of all of you,

Tanika