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Vancouver Off-Topic / Current EventsThe off-topic forum for Vancouver, funnies, non-auto centered discussions, WORK SAFE. While the rules are more relaxed here, there are still rules. Please refer to sticky thread in this forum.
I'm normally on the employer side hiring lawyers to combat paying severance, as long as you don't have a minimum severance clause signed, you're getting a nice payout!
A couple weeks ago I lost my job. Never had this happen to me before and emotionally it's been hard but I'm finally crawling back out from my cave where I've spent the last couple of weeks. I've never met like 98% of you but for some reason this place is a place where I can share this stuff.
In 2022 the company I worked for was acquired by a Toronto-based company and since then I've felt like I'm on Squid Game, watching my friends and coworkers get killed for the past 2 years. Finally I lost the game too, the day after xmas holidays. It was very, very unexpected and I had zero warning signs. In fact, a month prior they were hinting I was on the cusp of promotion and so I was totally blindsided.
My wife's been awesome and very supportive. But ngl, it's hard seeing her be the only one bringing in income.
We had to cancel our planned renovation which she was excited for, so I feel bad about that.
The worst part was we are renewing our mortgage for Feb 1 and so the timing could not have been worse. Thankfully our broker pulled some strings and this lack of job did not end up being a problem. We locked in variable 5 years for 4.45 (includes the recent drop) and hoping for more drops. Fixed was 4.39 I think for 3 years.
I guess I have a few tips in case you run into this:
- The most important one is read your employment contract closely and learn exactly what restrictions there might be in the event you are terminated. Read the clauses on on non solicits, non competes, and any caps on entitled severance. Having spent the last 2 weeks negotiating my package with help from my lawyer, I learned a lot of stuff I didn't know. I'm happy to answer any questions anyone here might have on what I learned about negotiating severance packages.
- Keep a backup of your important files on your personal computer. Or, in my case, because my personal and work computer were the same, on my personal cloud. Contacts, documents, research, anything and everything you wish you had if you are suddenly terminated. My access to my email/contacts/drive was cut off within seconds of them telling me. There are a few docs I wish I had downloaded and kept but don't have access to anymore. I also lost a lot of contacts!
- Try and update your resume/linkedin profiles periodically. I haven't touched my resume in almost 10 years
- In our case, because my wife is still working, I have some severance, and we have savings, financially we're not in panic mode yet, but with our mortgage, it's only a matter of time until are in trouble. Have a plan mapped out for how you'll stay afloat if you lose your income and still have to pay rent/mortgage/bills, etc.
- It's cliche, but no matter what, never burn bridges. Vancouver's so small.
Maintain your network! You never know when you'll need help from others. You don't want to be that guy who never calls on his friends until he needs something. Getting a job by appyling to online postings is the worst way, as opposed to talking to your network and getting introduced. I've been setting up calls/lunches with people and everyone has been super supportive and offering to help me find something new by letting me know of job postings before they are even published. I'm so grateful for that, and so if you haven't yet created a trusted network for yourself, start now. Better late that never!
- If you're sitting on a bunch of unclaimed expenses, send them in, don't wait. I have about $3k in expenses from travel that I hadn't submitted and now I'm trying to get them to pay and they are being difficult/fuckfaces about it.
Having been through 4 mass layoffs (got laid 3/4 times) it's rough. The first time it happened I was in shock because I'm still relatively new in my career. The last time it happened I was also in shock as we were 2 months out from expecting our second child.
What field are you in? Some fields are pretty hot while others are still in the shitter.
It's great that wife is able to single handedly keep you guys afloat. I get it, one could feel useless.
Come out and grab a beer sometimes if you need it, I'll spot you
I'm normally on the employer side hiring lawyers to combat paying severance, as long as you don't have a minimum severance clause signed, you're getting a nice payout!
Yeah so that is exactly what I learned. I did have a clause like that. But I was still able to get a package beyond the statutory minimum, but with some strings attached to it.
In case anyone isn't aware, employers can put a clause in your agreement that limits your severance to the government minimum, but nothing more. In my case, that would have only been 5 weeks. It's a good idea to read your agreement before assuming that if one day you're let go, that you'll be entitled to severance like those employment lawyer commercials always talk about.
A couple weeks ago I lost my job. Never had this happen to me before and emotionally it's been hard but I'm finally crawling back out from my cave where I've spent the last couple of weeks. I've never met like 98% of you but for some reason this place is a place where I can share this stuff.
In 2022 the company I worked for was acquired by a Toronto-based company and since then I've felt like I'm on Squid Game, watching my friends and coworkers get killed for the past 2 years. Finally I lost the game too, the day after xmas holidays. It was very, very unexpected and I had zero warning signs. In fact, a month prior they were hinting I was on the cusp of promotion and so I was totally blindsided.
My wife's been awesome and very supportive. But ngl, it's hard seeing her be the only one bringing in income.
We had to cancel our planned renovation which she was excited for, so I feel bad about that.
The worst part was we are renewing our mortgage for Feb 1 and so the timing could not have been worse. Thankfully our broker pulled some strings and this lack of job did not end up being a problem. We locked in variable 5 years for 4.45 (includes the recent drop) and hoping for more drops. Fixed was 4.39 I think for 3 years.
I guess I have a few tips in case you run into this:
- The most important one is read your employment contract closely and learn exactly what restrictions there might be in the event you are terminated. Read the clauses on on non solicits, non competes, and any caps on entitled severance. Having spent the last 2 weeks negotiating my package with help from my lawyer, I learned a lot of stuff I didn't know. I'm happy to answer any questions anyone here might have on what I learned about negotiating severance packages.
- Keep a backup of your important files on your personal computer. Or, in my case, because my personal and work computer were the same, on my personal cloud. Contacts, documents, research, anything and everything you wish you had if you are suddenly terminated. My access to my email/contacts/drive was cut off within seconds of them telling me. There are a few docs I wish I had downloaded and kept but don't have access to anymore. I also lost a lot of contacts!
- Try and update your resume/linkedin profiles periodically. I haven't touched my resume in almost 10 years
- In our case, because my wife is still working, I have some severance, and we have savings, financially we're not in panic mode yet, but with our mortgage, it's only a matter of time until are in trouble. Have a plan mapped out for how you'll stay afloat if you lose your income and still have to pay rent/mortgage/bills, etc.
- It's cliche, but no matter what, never burn bridges. Vancouver's so small.
Maintain your network! You never know when you'll need help from others. You don't want to be that guy who never calls on his friends until he needs something. Getting a job by appyling to online postings is the worst way, as opposed to talking to your network and getting introduced. I've been setting up calls/lunches with people and everyone has been super supportive and offering to help me find something new by letting me know of job postings before they are even published. I'm so grateful for that, and so if you haven't yet created a trusted network for yourself, start now. Better late that never!
- If you're sitting on a bunch of unclaimed expenses, send them in, don't wait. I have about $3k in expenses from travel that I hadn't submitted and now I'm trying to get them to pay and they are being difficult/fuckfaces about it.
Happened to me in 2010, once and only time and it sucked. Try and make sure you try and live a somewhat normal life, talk to your friends and family, get out of the house. It was one of the roughest times for me and reflecting back I did a lot of woos me kicking myself when I was down. The hardest part is the world around you just continues on and here you are dealing with shit, for me my self esteem took a real hit during that time.
Keep your chin up, you're valuable, your family doesn't think any different of you and eventually you'll find something else. For me it was like a reboot in my career, was hard at first but in the end it made me better both as a person and as an employee.
Wishing you all the best.
__________________
“The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place... and I don´t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently, if you let it. You, me or nobody, is gonna hit as hard as life. But ain't about how hard you hit... It's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward... how much you can take, and keep moving forward. That´s how winning is done. Now, if you know what you worth, go out and get what you worth.” - Rocky Balboa
If you’re headhunted from another company and then ultimately get laid off, you can get big $$$ out of the severance. The issue is you can’t work while you’re fighting for it but had a few friends in sales go through this headhunted and promised promotions then suddenly laid off due to “restructuring” and were able to get months and months of severance. Had to lawyer up though
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Dank memes cant melt steel beams
ne really positive takeaway of getting a severance package (if it's decent) is that it's rare to have paid time off with no obligations mid-career. The 3 months I had off (twice) were fantastic to have - my second time I was laid off and got a new job in 3 weeks but I was able to negotiate a start date 2 months out so I just chilled, caught up with friends, fixed up the house etc.
It's taken me a couple weeks but yes, I have realized this too! Done a lot of housework, I've been doing more cooking, and our driveway never has more than a cm of snow on it lol.
Yeah so that is exactly what I learned. I did have a clause like that. But I was still able to get a package beyond the statutory minimum, but with some strings attached to it.
In case anyone isn't aware, employers can put a clause in your agreement that limits your severance to the government minimum, but nothing more. In my case, that would have only been 5 weeks. It's a good idea to read your agreement before assuming that if one day you're let go, that you'll be entitled to severance like those employment lawyer commercials always talk about.
How'd you push beyond it, we're like 9/9 on those clauses, otherwise we're paying 5 months and getting 33-45% of it raked to lawyer fees on both sides.
Sorry to hear man that sucks, you have a good rep in your previous line of work and the current one I am confident you will land on your feet pretty fast... once you get over that hump of the mental impact, you will realize how many contacts you've made over the years and be able to find something cool I'm sure.
if you work in anything federally regulated, go through ESDC and SUE THESE MOTHEFUCKERS for wrongful dismissal. You'll get what you deserve. it sounds like you already have talked to an employment lawyer, if not ill recommend you a girl, shes fierce and insane.
Hang in there broski, a lot of us have gone through this and it's a depressing time for sure.
Try not to think about it, try and keep yourself as busy as possible doing other things. Especially since we are asian, I know the burden is magnified. In the mean time if you are hard up, just sign up for some gig work (uber eats, fantuan, etc) temporarily while you seek further employment.
OR!!! you can learn mandarin and come seduce this ferrari chick at my gym. Im pretty sure you can MANWHORE it up for good money. Youre a good looking guy, whaddya have to loose?!??!?!!
__________________ Geriatric Motoring Crub Member #444
A couple weeks ago I lost my job. Never had this happen to me before and emotionally it's been hard but I'm finally crawling back out from my cave where I've spent the last couple of weeks. I've never met like 98% of you but for some reason this place is a place where I can share this stuff.
I've been thru it twice and you can look back in 10 years and know you'll come out from the better end.
1) Talk to your lawyer, generally, you'll get 3 weeks, if you lawyer up, you might get 4.5 weeks. However, you'll burn that bridge, so be sure to decide wisely.
2) I used to save my contacts too but at the end of it... MEH.... it taught me one thing, your work friends are not your friends, your clients are only your friends because of your credit card.
3) Linkedin is your friend. I will never forget during placement services (provided by when i got let go), the guy was working for 30 yrs and never had a resume. Please go to 2 interviews yearly just to update your life.
Lastly, don't you worry about your life. You got friends and family - they are always willing to help.
Eating doesn't cost much. You can always bum a meal from close friends. Just rough it out, stretch your horizon and do something new. My last employment i lost 20 lbs cause I picked up cycling. I had a friend said "if you need money, i'll lend you 10k, pay me back whenver" that's when you know who your true friends are.
If you need help with resumes, let me know, i was at a global HR / payroll company for a bit so i can help you level up.
Willing to sell a family member for a few minutes on RS
Join Date: Apr 2011
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Yeah to echo everyone else, sometimes the best opportunities come from this.
My advice (I wasn't fired, but kind of forced out from by previous big job) is get something chill to keep you busy in the meantime and bring some money in if you feel stressed about it. It can take the pressure off while you look for something that's a good fit.
I had the most chill job for a bit before getting headhunted for my current job. I had a few months to work part time in which I worked hard on myself. I dealt with my drinking, sex life became exponentially more often, I got back in decent shape and did tons of projects on the car and home I'd put off. It helps the mental health immensely.
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98 technoviolet M3/2/5
Quote:
Originally Posted by boostfever
Westopher is correct.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fsy82
seems like you got a dick up your ass well..get that checked
Quote:
Originally Posted by punkwax
Well.. I’d hate to be the first to say it, but Westopher is correct.
i was laid off early in my career so had little risk and took advantage of the free time, but it got boring fast as all my friends were busy during the day so it was pretty isolated. i probably should have started looking for work asap only b/c it takes time to find a new job, and if you're experienced, time to find the right job for you.
i feel like now i'm older, these breaks in full time work are good to reset and make use of the time off but at the same time not to slack. i remember at my last job i was hoping to get laid off only so that it would force me to switch jobs, but also able to collect EI as i look to change jobs
^ always look for a job asap.
Keeps you alive and you wont' believe how long it took
1st time was 6 months, sned time was 9 months, i kept an excel spreadsheet and applied to 168 jobs, with only 2 job offers.
It's weird; despite my past history, my past great experience and network, it still took 9 months so beware..
Competition is really fierce.
DO remember and remind your sign other, NEVER live beyond your means. I scare my wife cause I told her, if either one of us lost out jobs and depleted our emergency funds (which we got at lesat 3-6 months(thank goodness my asian parents taught me well); we'll have to live on the streets, cause there is just no way we can live on one income / mortgage.
A Nissan GT-R was impounded for seven days, while a so-called “influencer” had to wait for his mother to pick him up after being caught speeding Hwy. 19 through Lantzville Sunday night.
__________________ Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.
wait a min, so you have a modified GTR that looks like it's supposed to be a sports car with a big ass spoiler that i assume is there for aero-dynamics... but then you have a big ass thule style 4x4 camping roof rack that is not going to help with aero dynamics at all...
if you get a severance package and you find another job, can you still continue to collect the severance?
Most severance packages are paid out right away (once paperwork is signed) and the company doesn't care what you do after so if you get a job right away then good for you.
wait a min, so you have a modified GTR that looks like it's supposed to be a sports car with a big ass spoiler that i assume is there for aero-dynamics... but then you have a big ass thule style 4x4 camping roof rack that is not going to help with aero dynamics at all...
am i just an old man now or what in the fuk?
People put roof racks on lambo's it was a tend a few year back.
Dude has over a million subs on youtube. No idea who this guy was.
So if you work at a company 3 years and you are terminated without cause effective immediately, the minimum they must pay you is 3 weeks of notice and/or pay, plus 1 week of notice/pay after each additional year of employment (to a maximum of 8 weeks).
^ this portion must be paid as a lump sum within 48 hrs of your last day.
Then there is what's called "common law" severance which is basically the additional compensation because your life is being upended and to recognize the challenge you may have in finding a new job.
The amount of common law severance you might receive is based on many factors and that's where a lawyer is helpful.
You only get common law severance if your employment agreement allows for it. Lots of employers put in your contract that you don't get any, no matter what.
The company might put strings on the severance. Rather than pay a lump sum, they pay a salary continuance. They also might put a clause that says if you find employment during the period of salary continuance, they can cut off your payments.
You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today!
The banners on the left side and below do not show for registered users!
