TVCH FORUMS HOME . JOIN . FAN CLUBS . DONATE . CONTACT . CHAT  
                  Quick Links   TOPICS . TREE-VIEW . SEARCH . HELP! . NEWS . PROFILE
Archive through March 18, 2009

Reality TVClubHouse Discussions: General Discussions ARCHIVES: Jan ~ Apr 2009: Free Expression: Dang the Economy (ARCHIVES): Archive through March 18, 2009 users admin

Author Message
Texasdeb
Member

05-23-2003

Monday, March 16, 2009 - 4:45 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Texasdeb a private message Print Post    
I have noticed that alot of us go to the "gripe" thread on this issue, so I felt it deserved a place of it's own:

Texasdeb
Member

05-23-2003

Monday, March 16, 2009 - 5:07 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Texasdeb a private message Print Post    
Unscheduled staff meeting today - every co. emp. has to take 4 days off without pay staggered between now & the end of the yr. Salaried employees have to take a day between now & the 1st wk of June, a 2nd day by mid Aug., a 3rd day by mid Oct, & the final day by the end of the yr. Our payroll ck will automatically be deducted a day's pay at these times.

We already didn't get our end of yr salary evaluations. We've cut 400 jobs corp. wide too. Most all travel & extra spending has been halted.

I'm feeling it!

Kookliebird
Member

08-04-2005

Monday, March 16, 2009 - 5:14 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Kookliebird a private message Print Post    
Working in High Tech and now on furloughs. We have only worked 3 weeks a month since November. At a minimum, we will continue through June. They announce a quarter at a time. All other overhead expenses were cut in the middle of last year. Layoffs occurred over the last 3 years with the latest earlier in 2008 (over 1/3rd of staff now gone). Raises are not expected this year.

Frankly, it does not bother me that much. Yes, I have less money. At least, I have a job when alot of people do not right now. I am using the free time to explore what I would like to do when I retire. I call it practice retirement. Plus, I am now able to work out on a regular basis, so I am in better shape than a year ago. Trying to be 'glass half full' because it does not pay to get depressed about it.

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Monday, March 16, 2009 - 5:42 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Julieboo a private message Print Post    
Dh's position is getting eliminated in 6 weeks.

Texasdeb
Member

05-23-2003

Monday, March 16, 2009 - 5:47 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Texasdeb a private message Print Post    
I am so glad that I HAVE my job! Just a yr or 2 ago, it was an employee's world, now the employers control us.

I'm very self driven, so I can adapt to changes & just push it a little more. I have cut back on my personal expenses prob. more than I need to in prep. for "what could come" & I've pushed myself to giving more time & energy to my work that now it's just the norm. 2 yrs ago I was happy to work 40-45 hrs/wk for my salary. Now, I'm happy to have a job & work 50-55 hrs/wk for the same salary. What a difference a couple of yrs make!

Kookliebird
Member

08-04-2005

Monday, March 16, 2009 - 6:11 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Kookliebird a private message Print Post    
Sorry to hear that JB.

Yankee_in_ca
Member

08-01-2000

Monday, March 16, 2009 - 8:19 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Yankee_in_ca a private message Print Post    
Hmmm, let's see. My budgets have been cut so drastically I can barely get my job done -- but there is an expectation that we not only do our jobs without adequate resources, but do them better and more successfully than we ever have, or else we face elimination ourselves. Recently, I had to lay my assistant off. My 401K is pretty much gone. My husband, who is freelance, hasn't had regular work since, ummm, about September. Add that to the fact that we had a serious family crisis which was horrible, horrific and used up all of our savings, and he's pretty depressed. So I have to work a solid 12-16 hours a day, 6-7 days a week (no, I'm not exaggerating) while also knowing that he harbors resentment towards me because, hey, I've still got a job so I'm the lucky one, right? And I love him so I do my best to focus on his needs when we're together so he has a little happiness in his day.

I know -- at LEAST I still get a paycheck and have a job that I actually do enjoy when I'm not stressed to the max, and I have benefits for the both of us. But I'm stressed out, tired and exhausted all the time. My back and neck are killing me from the weight of it all. But I AM grateful. I just wish it were a little easier, after working hard at this career for the past 19 years.

Biscottiii
Member

05-30-2004

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 - 1:11 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Biscottiii a private message Print Post    
JB, that's beyond scary!
So sorry for the hard times people are experiencing!

I've been retired for 7-1/2 years now, and with medical insurance increasing faster than imaginable, I'm somewhat more used to feeling the bite. Last year I had to give up my medical insurance coverage of 38 yrs, and switch to an HMO with doctors that I've never met, just to survive.

Our newspaper had an article a couple of weeks ago about MANY people having to furlough, otherwise many other people would be getting layoff notices.

One tiny sliver of 'silver lining' IMO, is when they allow the Employee to choose WHICH day they will take off for furlough. That allows them to figure/schedule which paycheck would be less painful to be cut short (i.e., if short payday hits right when their property taxes or earthquake insurance is supposed to hit, that would be a double whammy). Better than the company arbitrarily closing the office on certain days, without any thought to what's happening financially on that given next pay date.

Ginger1218
Member

08-31-2001

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 - 2:53 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Ginger1218 a private message Print Post    
Last Monday, an email was sent out informing us of layoffs to be done that day in our NY office and across the country. I was sick all day, every time the phone rang. I was one of the lucky ones, thankfully. But, it was very very scary.

Serate
Member

08-21-2001

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 - 6:24 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Serate a private message Print Post    
We've been lucky that the only thing hubby's work has done is said that there will be no cost of living pay raises, and any performance based raises will be capped at 2%. I know that prices are going up and so cost of living is going up, but at least he has a job. We are no where near cutting back on anything necessary yet, so fingers crossed we'll be ok for now. Trying to pay down bills is our main concentration right now. Don't have a lot of money in the bank but the bills are getting double paid for the most part. Money in the bank or lack of has nothing to do with the economy for us, it's the ex-wife. We get too much money in the bank she gets the child support raised and uses it on booze and smokes. We might as well pay pills with that money.

Denecee
Member

09-05-2002

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 - 8:40 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Denecee a private message Print Post    
DH was just informed that there will be lay offs(thankfully not him) and shut downs. Every 3 months there will be a 2 week shut down, so first week is waiting week but then he could collect unemployment for 2nd week.
Does anybody know how unemployment claims work? My question is is there a waiting week every 3 months when the shut down happens or just the first week in a certain time period?

Thankfully, I have my job and even though we are slow, I feel pretty secure. I work for a wholesale flower seed company that is used to slow times.

Kookliebird
Member

08-04-2005

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 - 9:47 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Kookliebird a private message Print Post    
Denecee - Every state would probably be different. I see you are from Oregon. Same here and we are on furloughs at my company as well. In Oregon, the first week in an 18 month claim period is always a waiting week. You need to file the claim the week that you are off, then you need to claim that week and then claim the 2nd week as well. I know it sounds redundant, but that's how it works. You will probably be told to mark that you are ready and available for work and that you are looking for a job (even though he isn't). Because you are only furloughed, you do not have to look for a job, just mark that you are.

Then the next time you have a shutdown, you need to just 'restart' the claim as long as it is within a 18 month period from the original claim. And then file the claim for the weeks that you are off again.

Check out the 3/15/09 Sunday Oregonian business section. There was an article about unemployment claims for furloughed employees and the pitfalls. It's online if you don't have the paper.

The Oregon unemployment website does explain it pretty well too. It's just weeding through it all to find out the answer to your question.

Good luck!

Denecee
Member

09-05-2002

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 - 10:13 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Denecee a private message Print Post    
Thank you Kookliebird! Good info. He will use up his vacation time first, so he won't need to touch his unemployment until maybe the last shut down of the year.

Wargod
Moderator

07-16-2001

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 - 12:48 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Wargod a private message Print Post    
I'm sorry for those of you (or your spouses) facing layoffs and mandatory shut downs. Even if it's just for a short time it really sucks.

I've posted some about Darren's job...no raises (cost of living or performance) and no more matching 401k funds. They had two rounds of layoffs last year, mostly temp employees, and are pretty much in a hiring freeze (they've only hired one person since last year and it was a neccessary position they had to fill.) One of the silliest things to complain about, but kinda sad cuz I always saw it as a little bit of making up for missing so much no fun day tickets for Disneyland this year. Like I said, silly, but since Darren misses so much (school events, sporting events, weekends) that was sort of a hey thanks for giving up so much time, families treat.

Next to go is OT. They tried to cut that out last month but got so far behind they had no choice but to approve it. It'll only last til they can cut it out without getting behind though. The one thing they haven't touched yet is paying for most of college. We're praying they don't cut that, but it doesn't look good. Not sure what we'll do if they do.

My job is...uncertain. I work for IHSS (In Home Support Services) and that's one of the programs in California that is taking a pretty huge cut. I won't know for several weeks probably if I'll still have a job or if I'll have cut hours or what. Considering that my paycheck is issued by the state and the financial mess it's in, I've been going paycheck to paycheck wondering if I'll even get the next one or get an IOU instead.

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 - 12:57 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Julieboo a private message Print Post    
Very scary indeed. Guess we'll have to start looking into public aid, at least for insurance as we'll be covered til the end of May. After that, we'll be on our own. I know we have the option of Cobra, but I think that is very expensive. I feel nauseous. Guess we'll have to cut out all of the speech therapy and OT for Ryan. I am happy we already took him off his ADHD meds that he needed a refill of every month. I hope my doc will give me a high ## for my migraine pills so I can stock up ahead of time.

Meanwhile, they are still planning to give my dh his review this week!! His boss wants to give him the highest possible raise (which would be retroactive to the date he should have gotten his review). That just makes me laugh and laugh. I mean I guess it's a little something, but how sadly ironic.

Oh, and the company I worked for last (where I was going to start my job search with) just got bought out by another company and they just let go about 17 employees...

And I started a fulltime temp job with the federal govt. last week. They already put me on "standby" after one week.

Sweet.

Kitt
Member

09-06-2000

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 - 2:26 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Kitt a private message Print Post    
Sorry to hear all that Julie. Cobra is your same insurance, but you pay the total amount of the premium yourself, rather than having your husband's company pay for it. As most companies pay 70-80% of the premium cost, you'd expect your Cobra payments to be four to five times as much as you're paying now per month... which is usually pretty steep. Make sure you use up any appointments you can get before your coverage goes. I hope he finds another job and yours stays.

Also hope the rest of you don't receive any more bad news. My dh's job had a mandatory shutdown over Christmas/New Year, which luckily he was already planning to take off. He survived one set of lay-offs ("reorganisation") and we're just hoping there are no more. So far we're very lucky.

Denecee
Member

09-05-2002

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 - 2:33 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Denecee a private message Print Post    
Plus President Obama just signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) which states that employers subject to federal COBRA may be required to accept 35 percent premium payment from certan participants eligible.
Employers can recover the subsidy on their quarterly Federal tax return.

Kitt
Member

09-06-2000

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 - 2:38 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Kitt a private message Print Post    
Wow that would make a huge difference, Denecee... I think many people would then end up paying less than double what they're currently paying.

Denecee
Member

09-05-2002

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 - 2:42 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Denecee a private message Print Post    
I just received the notice in the mail today about it, and it's not something we will use because we only have 5 employees and they aren't going anywhere. hopefully

Kookliebird
Member

08-04-2005

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 - 3:43 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Kookliebird a private message Print Post    
Be careful on the insurance decisions. If you use Cobra, you are still on your company's plan. It's just that you are paying the whole premium yourself rather than the company paying part. All pre-existing conditions should still be covered.

If you were to go to a new plan (non-cobra), there is a possibility that existing conditions may not be covered for a period of time (like 6 months). So, you want to do your homework on the Cobra versus non-Cobra before making a decision. A non-Cobra plan may be less expensive on a monthly basis, but that may be moot if you have to pay 6 months for a pre-existing condition out of your own pocket.

Kitt
Member

09-06-2000

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 - 4:33 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Kitt a private message Print Post    
Oh and another thing about changing insurance, now Kooklie has mentioned pre-existing conditions - often if you go straight from a company plan to a new non-company plan (e.g. end May 31, start new plan Jun 1) then you don't have that period of time when you're not covered for pre-existing conditions. HOWEVER if you stop coverage even for just a month and then start a new plan then they often have the preexisting conditions clauses. That month uncovered can make a huge difference.

Kookliebird
Member

08-04-2005

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 - 5:06 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Kookliebird a private message Print Post    
Agreed, but also want to mention that each state can be different in this regard depending on their insurance laws. So, just do your homework regarding a new plan before making any changes in your coverage.

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 - 5:27 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Julieboo a private message Print Post    
Well we don't even have too many options to consider. Basically cobra or nothing (or find out what public aid may be offered.) That 35% thing is good, but runs for a limited amount of time. Just hope we can find gainful employment before those 9 months are up.

The local park district got over 1,000 applications this past Saturday when they started accepting them for the summer positions. That scares the poop out of me that that many people are looking for jobs.

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Wednesday, March 18, 2009 - 5:50 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Julieboo a private message Print Post    
Hmph!! Dh just talked to HR and they (his co.) are not doing that ARRA. Guess it is not mandatory? So confused. They are doing something else called state continuation of coverage. I need to find out more about it. DH is steamed and he may be getting info wrong as he is not seeing very clearly right now, but he is saying that it is supposed to be for much smaller companies (like 25 employees or under) and says it will be more $$$.

Serate
Member

08-21-2001

Wednesday, March 18, 2009 - 10:49 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Serate a private message Print Post    
Got my fingers crossed for you Julie!