Thread regarding Verizon Communications Inc. layoffs

@b3 be careful with this one. There is a sentence in your severance agreement that covers this under the paragraph about company property. If you get caught making copies and/or sending yourself company documentation, it could cost you your severance. Just because you personally built it doesn't mean you own it. Instead of screenshots, my advice would be just to make some notes about it instead, but you do you.

• Take pictures/screenshots of dashboards, workflows, presentations, trackers or work examples you personally built so you can later recreate sanitized versions for portfolios or interview discussions. Obviously do not take confidential company or customer data.

Download all your performance evaluations and use them to punch up your resume - make sure every bullet has some sort of quantifiable or qualitative data point - recruiters are looking for that these days (according to a job hunting group I joined several months ago). You may be surprised at the data AI can import into a more impressive and ATS-friendly resume! Good luck to you - my prayers are with all of you impacted!

The $20,000,000 "reskilling" fund.

After 15,000 firings, that comes down to $1,333 per fired employee.

That won't even cover the costs of books for any new course or certification.

$20,000,000 worth of PR is all that is.

Here's a practical rundown of the special resources available to laid-off Verizon employees right now:
Verizon's $20 Million Reskilling Fund Verizon set up a dedicated reskilling page for laid-off alumni at verizon.com/about/responsibility/human-prosperity/reskilling-program. The fund offers free digital training and other resources to help eligible Verizon alumni take their next career step. The fund covers skill development, digital training, and job placement — and Verizon billed itself as the first company to set up a fund specifically focused on AI-era skill sets.Networking & Community Spaces

• LinkedIn: Laid-off Verizon employees have been posting on LinkedIn in large numbers — search "Verizon alumni" or "#OpenToWork" filtered by Verizon to find others in the same boat .LinkedIn also has Verizon Alumni groups you can join directly.
• TheLayoff.com: Forums on TheLayoff.com and Reddit have been active hubs where impacted employees share intel, ask questions about severance and RSUs, and support each other. Workplace experts have noted that "the importance of upskilling and reskilling cannot be overstated" in this moment, with AI replacing some coding and operational functions. The Verizon reskilling page is the most concrete free resource — worth checking first to see what training you're eligible for before it potentially winds down.

Here’s a fill-in-the-blank checklist you can use to file and keep unemployment benefits going in . requires weekly certification, plus at least three new verifiable work-search contacts each week unless you’re exempt.
Before you file

• Full name: __
• Social Security number: __
• Government photo ID: __
• Driver’s license, if applicable: __
• Mailing address: __
• Phone number and email: __
• Bank routing number for direct deposit: __
• Bank account number for direct deposit: __
• Employer separation notice or letter, if you have one: __

• Work history for the last 18 months: employer names, addresses, phone numbers, dates worked, pay rate, total earnings, reason for leaving: __ 34

  File the claim

1. Go to the Department of Labor unemployment portal and start a new claim.
2. Enter your personal information exactly as it appears on your ID and Social Security records.
3. Add your complete work history for the last 18 months.
4. Choose how you want benefits paid, usually direct deposit or another approved method.
5. Submit the claim and save your confirmation number.
   After you file

• Weekly certification day: __
• Password/PIN kept safe: __
• Weekly work-search records saved: __
• At least 3 new employer contacts each week: __
  Weekly reporting
• Report all work and wages earned that week.
• Certify that you were able, available, and actively seeking work.
• Submit your weekly work-search contacts online or by the method allows.
  Common problems to avoid
• Missing a weekly certification.
• Forgetting to report income.
• Reusing the same employers instead of making new contacts.
• Leaving out a past employer or dates worked.
  Verizon Layoff Financial Priority Checklist

1. Immediate Survival & Income (First 24–72 Hours)
2. Find out exact severance details
   Final paycheck date
   Severance amount
   PTO/vacation payout
   COBRA/health coverage timing
   Stock/RSU deadlines
   Pension or 401(k) impacts
3. File for unemployment immediately
   DOL staye unemployment portal
   Even if severance may delay payments, start the process now.
4. Stop all nonessential spending
   Pause:
   Streaming
   Subscriptions
   App purchases
   Dining out
   Gambling/sweepstakes spending
   Auto-renewals
5. Protect cash
   Move to “survival mode”
   Prioritize:
6. Housing
7. Utilities
8. Food
9. Transportation
10. Insurance
11. Medication/medical
12. Health Insurance (Very High Priority)
13. Compare:
    COBRA
    ACA marketplace plans(healtjcare.gov)
    Spouse/family plans
14. Use:HealthCare.gov
15. Important:Loss of employment creates a special enrollment period
    Subsidies can dramatically reduce monthly costs after income drops
16. Emergency Budget (First Week)
    Create a bare-minimum monthly budget:
    Rent/mortgage
    Power/water/internet
    Gas/car payment
    Insurance
    Groceries
    Debt minimums
    Then calculate:
    Cash on hand
    Months of survival runway
    Formula: \text{Runway Months} = \frac{\text{Cash Savings}}{\text{Monthly Essential Expenses}}
17. Protect Retirement & Benefits
    401(k)
    Usually best options:
    Leave it temporarily
    Or roll into IRA
    Avoid:
    Cashing out early
    401(k) loans unless absolutely necessary
    HSA/FSA
    HSA usually stays yours
    FSA may have spending deadlines
    Verizon stock/RSUs
    Check:Vesting deadlines
    Exercise windows
    Tax consequences
18. Debt Triage
    Pay in this order:
19. Housing
20. Car needed for work
21. Utilities
22. Insurance
23. Secured debt
24. Minimum credit card payments
    Contact lenders early
    Ask for:Hardship programs,Payment pauses
    Reduced APR,Deferred payments
25. Collect before access disappears:
    Pay stubs
    HR documents
    Performance reviews
    Internal contacts
    Benefit records
    W-2s
    Update:Resume
    LinkedIn
    Certifications
    References
    Useful sites:
    LinkedIn Jobs
    Indeed
    USAJobs
26. Taxes & Severance
    Important:Severance is taxable
    Bonus withholding may be high
    Unemployment is taxable federally
    Consider:Adjusting withholding,Setting aside tax money
    IRS info:IRS unemployment tax information
27. Assistance Programs If Needed
    Food
    SNAP
    Food banks
    Community pantries
    Utilities
    LIHEAP assistance
    Internet
    Low-cost internet programs
    Medical
    Charity care programs
    Find local help:
    FindHelp.org
28. Mental & Family Stability
    Layoffs often trigger:
    Panic spending
    Depression
    Isolation
    Bad financial decisions
    Avoid:
    High-interest loans
    Day trading
    MLMs
    “Easy money” schemes
    Draining retirement early
    Focus on:
    Routine
    Sleep
    Networking
    Short-term income stability first
29. First 30-Day Goal
    The main goal is:
30. Preserve cash
31. Keep healthcare
32. Avoid debt spirals
33. Restore income quickly
    Everything else is secondary until stability returns.Fast reminder

• File as soon as possible.
• Keep your contact info updated.
• Save every confirmation screen or email.
• Check notices from DOL regularly.

Linked in Verizon Alumni Network, Life After Verizon Support Group

A few practical things I would recommend to anyone impacted by layoffs before your final day:
• Remove any pending vacation time if your company pays out unused PTO. You do not want approved future vacation causing issues with payout processing.
• Download or screenshot your annual reviews, performance feedback and any recognition awards. You will use these later for resume bullets, interview stories and measurable accomplishments.
• Save copies of paystubs, W-2s, benefits information, commission statements and PTO balances.
• Schedule annual medical, dental and vision appointments before insurance ends and refill prescriptions if needed.
• Start applying for jobs NOW. Do not wait. Build your LinkedIn network aggressively and use AI strategically. Gather 10 job descriptions for roles you want, feed them into AI and tailor your resume/LinkedIn around the keywords, metrics and business impact repeatedly showing up in those postings. Focus on measurable results, not responsibilities.
• Save personal contact information for coworkers, leaders and recruiters while you still have access.
• Take pictures/screenshots of dashboards, workflows, presentations, trackers or work examples you personally built so you can later recreate sanitized versions for portfolios or interview discussions. Obviously do not take confidential company or customer data.
• Focus your remaining time on transition work, documentation and knowledge transfer. Stay professional until the end. The world gets very small during layoffs and reorganizations.
• Understand your severance, COBRA costs, unemployment eligibility, 401(k)/HSA options and any RSU or stock impacts before your final day.
Most importantly: do not freeze after a layoff. The people who recover fastest usually start networking and applying immediately.

Veri,on severance portal.Use up all medical benefits prior to last day as employee.If you need to get independent insurance agent to give you quote on health policy.Use time as employee to max outhealth benefits, dental benefits etc

Download the Workday App, VZCentral is same as app, access things like paystubs while an employee.You can getthe Workday app to send OTP code to eith VZ email or personal cell phone Look up offboarding, checklist for seperated employees.

Cut off "voluntary" contributions to PAC and united way and everything else.

Spend up to your max HCSA before you leave. Not what you contributed, what you would've contributed over the full year.

@OP remove all approved time off so that you will get paid for them. Print or send anything you may need to your personal email. They will block you from doing both of they haven't already

Having been axed during the November '25 layoff, here's what I can tell you from experience:

You should:

• roll over your work to the person who's gonna take your job function
• once you roll your work over, stop working. don't pick up new work
• gather a list of contacts you want to keep (especially potential vendors to work for)
• make a clear break from Verizon as soon as realistically possible
• make peace that this chapter is now done, but the best is still ahead of you

You'll have access to the employee separation website that'll have a bunch of links to documents. Get familiar with these documents and understand them. I'm in NJ, so I had NJ warn kick in; i was on payroll for 3 extra months and I got two weeks of pay for every year I was at the job, paid out in two separate installments after being off payroll; the severance package makes that a bit difficult to understand. You get paid out for vacation time, but PTO depends on where you live. They may offer LLH Services and edX; I'd certainly use them, but I personally didn't find them that helpful.

You'll be fine and get your payout as long as you don't join another company that Verizon has equity in, or could possibly take over (ex: Frontier). Good luck! From my experience, leaving this shithole of a company was the best thing that's happened to me.