Laid Off: What to Do in the First Two Weeks

Being laid off is disorienting, and the disorientation is worst in the first few days when several time-sensitive things need doing at once. The useful response is sequence: do the things that expire first, then the things that compound, then settle into a rhythm you can sustain for months.

Your rights come from federal law, state law and your employer's own plans, so treat every mention of money and rights here as a prompt to check, not an answer.

Days one to three: the things that expire

Company systems get switched off fast, sometimes the same afternoon. Do these first.

1. Get the terms in writing. Ask for a written statement of your last day, when your final paycheck arrives, how severance is calculated, whether unused PTO is paid out (federal law does not require it; state law and company policy decide), when health coverage ends, and what happens to unvested equity. A verbal summary in a distressing meeting is not something you will remember accurately in two weeks.
2. Ask what the company will say. Confirm what it will tell reference checkers, and whether the departure is described as a layoff, a restructuring or a position elimination. That phrasing follows you through background checks.
3. Export what is legitimately yours. Your own contact list, your pay stubs, offer letter and benefits documents, your performance reviews, your training certificates. Not a customer database, internal documents, code or pricing. If in doubt about whether something belongs to the company, it does.
4. Write down your own numbers. Before you lose access to dashboards, note the figures you will need in interviews: revenue you influenced, headcount you managed, budgets, the before-and-after on projects you led.

Days two to five: references, while people still remember you

References decay. Colleagues who can speak precisely about your work scatter within months.

Ask three or four people directly, while there is goodwill in the room: a manager, a peer from another function, someone you managed, a client or vendor. Get personal email addresses and cell numbers, not just work ones.

Make it easy for them. Send each a short note with two or three specifics you would like them to be able to confirm: a project, a number, your behavior under pressure. That is not scripting them; it is reminding them. People who agree readily in week one go quiet by month three, not from unwillingness but from distance.

Days three to seven: understand what you were offered

Read the severance agreement twice, with a notepad, and note what you do not understand rather than deciding what it means.

Pay attention to the release of claims (what you agree not to sue over), any noncompete or confidentiality terms, the signing deadline, and anything that changes if you find work quickly.

If you are 40 or older and the agreement asks you to waive age discrimination claims, federal law sets minimum terms: at least 21 days to consider it (45 days if the layoff is a group program), seven days to revoke after you sign, and written advice to consult an attorney. In a group layoff, you must also receive the job titles and ages of the people in the affected unit who were selected and who were not. Use the full review period.

Also ask whether the WARN Act applied. It generally requires employers with 100 or more employees to give at least 60 calendar days' written notice of a covered plant closing or mass layoff, and some states have their own notice laws.

Have an employment attorney review the agreement before you sign. This is worth paying for once.

The severance agreement, your health coverage and your unemployment claim all run on deadlines. Everything else in the first two weeks can slip by a few days; those cannot.

Week one: file for unemployment and sort out coverage

Unemployment insurance is run by each state under federal guidelines. You generally qualify if you lost your job through no fault of your own and meet your state's wage requirements. File in the state where you worked as soon as possible, even if you are unsure you qualify; the first payment typically takes two to three weeks. Ask how severance affects your claim, because state rules differ.

Next, health coverage. At employers with 20 or more employees, COBRA generally lets you keep the group health plan for up to 18 months, but you may pay the full premium plus up to 2 percent. You have at least 60 days from the election notice to choose it. Compare a Marketplace plan at HealthCare.gov: apply within 60 days of losing job-based coverage, and you may qualify for income-based savings.

Then your 401(k). You can usually leave it, roll it into an IRA or a new plan, or cash it out. A direct rollover avoids withholding; a payout made to you has 20 percent withheld, and cashing out before age 59 1/2 may add a 10 percent additional tax (generally not from the plan of an employer you leave in or after the year you turn 55). Get tax advice first.

Week two: start the rhythm

The search should look like a part-time job with fixed hours. Twelve to fifteen hours a week is a full search; beyond that, application quality falls and you interview worse.

A workable week: Monday to shortlist four to six roles worth real effort; Tuesday through Thursday for two targeted applications a day plus outreach; Friday for follow-ups and one conversation that is not about a specific opening.

Keep one sheet with company, role, date, contact and status, so you can see what is older than ten days.

What to tell your network, and when

Tell close contacts in the first week, one at a time. Say plainly that your role was cut, what you are looking for, and what help is useful: an introduction, a view on a company, a name.

Post publicly once you can describe what you want. A vague "open to opportunities" generates sympathy; "I am looking for operations roles in logistics or manufacturing, ideally in the Midwest" generates introductions.

Say it once. Reposting weekly reads as distress rather than availability, and the people who can help saw it the first time.