A new severance plan is out today. They will now pay weekly. The amount is your previous weekly pay minus what you can draw in state unemployment benefits. Maximum period is 12 weeks or until you get a new job and unemployment benefits stop.
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The new plan su-ks but I don't think collecting unemployment will stop the payments. The formula says "Your weekly Plan benefit will equal (A) 100% of your regular straight time weekly pay as in effect on the date of your involuntary termination of employment, minus (B) the State unemployment compensation benefit you are entitled to receive for that same weekly period." So if you are not entitled to unemployment that week the formula requires your full pay. Bottom line though it still su-ks compared to the guaranteed lump sum they previously paid. They are counting on big savings here for all the people in upcoming cuts.
This was the push I needed to start looking to leave Windstream. I was of the mind that I would at least get 12 weeks pay if I got the dreaded HR conference call email. Most states will not allow you to claim benefits if you are still receiving a weekly pay check. The 12 week severance check will be reduced by the amount of your eligible state UC and you will not be eligible for an UC check until the 12 week severance expires
Depends on the state you are in. Check with your states unemployment office.
I bet they didn't think about the fact that getting a weekly severance will disqualify most folks from their weekly unemployment compensation because their getting paid weekly from another source. So it will burn up your weeks of unemployment comp with likely no actual weekly comp. And I bet they won't be paying the difference each week that you didn't receive in UC benefits.
Yes they’re being so generous. Bravo Windstream
While this is cr-p, anything is better than nothing. Lot's of companies legit just do nothing. So all you would get is unemployment through your state. So something is better than nothing I guess.
It isn't even severance anymore. It is literally unemployment assistance. What a crock.
Pretty funny how they tried to bury the announcement. “we reworded a couple things in the handbook. oh and btw theres a whole new bargain bin severance plan”
The simple fact that they've announced this newly restructured plan pretty much tells us layoffs will continue.
I don't know how true this is since there are a lot of trolls on here but it wouldn't surprise me if true. I was let go last year. Seeing this from the other side with my new job I can tell you, it's not just Windstream having problems but the whole telecom industry. If you have skills that can be utilize in another industry I would suggest going that direction. My suggestion is to get out of telecom if you are able to. It's been dying for quite some time. The damage, in my opinion, at Windstream is so severe that I don't see how it will survive. I don't see the value in purchasing the company since the biggest value I ever saw was with the fiber assets which, from my understanding, is now at Unity. The next value I saw were the employees who had the knowledge or a drive to learn to support the variety of products. I have talked to several of them as they left (the ones willingly) and they were so restricted they couldn't see the value in staying. I've talked to PCs and PMs and now they are tasked with things above their knowledge (not trying to be insulting). I've seen Sales Engineers that don't the basics, partly because they cannot gain the knowledge from experienced SEs that left awhile ago. I can go on but the biggest value of any company is the customers. You cannot treat the customers like cr-p for a long period of time and expect to survive. Normally I don't care if somebody makes more money than I because that's a foolish way to look at things.. however greed caused this company to fail so quickly. The whole bonus situation leading up to, during and after the bankruptcy never made sense to me if those in charge were trying to make the company profitable and healthy. You can complain about the situation however it won't improve or change anything. It's beyond your control. The only thing you can control is what you do now. I am not one to tell anybody how to live your life since I don't possess the knowledge of the challenges you face. My only suggestion is to update your resume and see what is out there that compliment your skills and/or get certifications to make your more valuable for another career. Get out of telecom!
This will all be handed by a 3rd party as well. So good luck getting any kind of payment. Well this should be a wake up call for anyone who is still here because of laziness/complacency. That you need to get out sooner rather then later, and on your terms as here is there's... And it su-ks.