Severance Package Question

[VRM]

Originally Posted by Fred Douglass

.....paying into RETIREMENT and/or social(ist) SECURITY.......NOT (repeat NOT) "unemployment"....which supplied those out of work.

I'm sure there's an historic explanation for everything.....but "unemployment" always seemed to be drawn from a general public pool.

It doesn't bother me.....I'm old-fashioned and genetically anti-FDR, anyway. I've never collected any "benefits" other than retirement funds INTO WHICH I'VE PAID. It seems a federal (or state) unemployment fund----whether "paid" by an employer via taxes or not still seems different from dipping into one's OWN retirement.

Betcha that math still applies.....condescending/scolding "corrections" aside.

I am confident this response will meet with more of the above. Nonetheless, I trust my sources as to the origins and ethics of unemployment "benefits".....

Chow,

Freddie,
I'm glad you never got laid off - as I said things were a bit different 'back in your day'. Layoffs are a lot more frequent these days; Out of the last three jobs I was at I know of maybe 3-4 people who have never been laid off.

Unemployment is not drawn from a general pool. There is a specific fund that claims in MA are drawn from. That fund is driven by a portion of the wage taxes, and that tax is paid by my employer and is a direct percentage of my paycheck. Most states have something similar. The one in MA is in a bit of trouble right now, but is still not as bad as those in many other states.

I don't know what you find wrong with it ethically - it is a benefit of working, just like SS. The amount I can get paid per week is a direct reflection of how much I made, though it is capped.

So do you think that the 1930s alternatives to unemployment benefits are better?

Still, I would rather they change the way it is paid so that people are encouraged to find jobs rather than just sucking it up. Perhaps 2-3 months of full benefits, but then they would gradually reduce it by x amount per month or week. Though I think many people are going to be out of work for a long time these days.