On the first day of your layoff, early in the morning, go to your unemployment office and file a claim. Do not wait until the week is over before doing this as it will only mean you will have to wait longer for your unemployment check.
Within a day or two, you will receive a form in the mail that will tell you how much unemployment you qualify for. If your company does not contest the unemployment, you will then receive a check in the amount you are entitled to within 2 weeks. Depending on how your State runs its unemployment office, you will have to report each week or every 2 weeks either by phone or in person. Since this is a temporary layoff, you might not be required to put down 2 job references each week you are out of work.
Also, depending on your State's unemployment laws, you do not have to use your vacation to cover company shutdowns. You can claim unemployment for those shutdowns and save your vacation for when you want to take them. Some people take the shutdowns as vacation because they collect more money in the form of vacation pay then they do from unemployment. Some people take the unemployment in order to have more time off work during the year.
Companies prefer you to use your vacation time for a shutdown because then their unemployment insurance rates do not go up, they don't lose money with people taking vacation time, they don't have to monkey with the scheduling because they know at shutdown everyone is off at the same time, etc.
Check your State's unemployment compensation law. No one will look out after you better than you.
[Edited by buddy2bear on 06-02-2001 at 08:23 AM]
