Disclaimer.

We are not lawyers, accountants, or financial advisers, and nothing on this site is advice about your specific situation. Everything here is general information meant to help you get your bearings, understand your options, and ask better questions when you talk to someone licensed.

Why we say this

Layoffs drop people into legal, tax, and money decisions with real consequences, often on a deadline. We work hard to get the facts right and to cite official sources, and you can read exactly how in our methodology. But general information is not the same as advice tailored to your paperwork, your state, and your numbers. Two people reading the same page can owe two different right answers.

Laws vary and change

Benefit amounts, filing deadlines, tax rules, and employment law differ by state and get rewritten more often than anyone would like. We date and re-verify what we can, but a figure that was right when we checked it can be wrong by the time you read it. Always confirm anything you plan to rely on against the official source we link to.

Company and state details

When we describe what a company has paid in past layoffs, we mean exactly that, what was reported for a specific past round, cited to a source. Past rounds do not bind future ones, and your own severance agreement controls, not our summary of an old one. State benefit numbers are our reading of official rules at a point in time, not a determination of what you personally qualify for.

When to get a professional

Before you sign a severance agreement, make an irreversible tax or retirement move, or act on a legal deadline, talk to an employment attorney, a tax professional, or a licensed financial adviser about your actual situation. That is not us covering ourselves. It is the genuinely correct move when real money or rights are on the line, and many of these professionals offer a free or low-cost first conversation.

Links to other sites

We link heavily to government agencies, official programs, and primary sources. We do not control those sites and are not responsible for their content, accuracy, or availability. We link to them because they are the authoritative source, which is the whole point.

Questions about any of this belong on the contact page. If we have gotten something wrong, we especially want to hear it.