Chapter 11 - severance agreement and unemployment

If your first severance or dismissal pay is paid out more than 30 days after your separation date then in New York State it will not be considered for purposes of unemployment benefits. Make sure to honestly report all of your earnings or wages or income of any type to the DOL throughout your period of potential benefits and never permit someone else to report for you and do not leave New York while collecting unemployment for example a vacation. The DOL will eventually discover that you did if you do. Tell them before you go and depending on circumstances you may be able to continue collecting. And don't open or launch your own business unless you inform them well before you even think about doing so because that is not an option without prior approval. And pay an employment lawyer to review your noncompete. There might be more things to consider than you think because when you receive severance pay in exchange for even an otherwise unenforceable noncompete you are making a choice to be bound by those otherwise unenforceable terms. Many employees would rather just walk away instead so there must be some reason why you wish to be bound by those very possibly otherwise unenforceable terms? There's really no excuse not to pay some lawyer a flat fee to review them and advise you remotely.