[quote=no_such_reality]In California, UI benefits are capped at $450/wk.
That’s $2200/month.[/quote]For 2016? I haven’t looked in awhile. Even so, if the worker is eligible for the entire $450 week for a maximum of 26 weeks ($11,700) and the laid-off worker is FREE!
The laid-off worker is free to look for another job from day one. If they got any “severance” at all, it must be reported to EDD. The worker is still eligible for 26 weeks of UI from the week after the severance pay ends.
Let’s just say these laid-off Disney IT employees were making an average of $80K annually. That’s $20K gross for 3 months FT work plus a $2K “bonus” (~$22K) IF their cheaper foreign replacement “gets it” after 3 months (MINUS ALL PAYROLL TAXES)! It’s still not worth it . . . that is if FL has a ~$450 cap on their weekly UI payment.
I would never train my replacement where I didn’t initiate my own absence from work. H@ll no! The employer can kiss my a$$. Never in a million years would I give away the store to a person hired as my replacement . . . unbeknownst to me :=0
Workers should realize that collecting UI usually throws them into a lower tax bracket and they don’t have to have Federal taxes taken from their weekly benefit. Also, in CA, if they take another job and then suspend their UI, they are still able to collect the balance of the claim if they are terminated within that 26-week time period. If not, they can file a new claim after the 26-week time period based upon a newer 18-month wage record and collect it for 26 weeks again. The new weekly benefit may be more or less than the weekly benefit from the old claim.
