Employment Termination Form

If you are receiving severance pay, you will not receive benefits until the VEC contacts the employer about the severance payments. Severance pay may potentially block unemployment benefits for the period of time to which it is allocated by the employer.The VEC will contact the employer to obtain this information.

In Virginia, in the absence of an employment contract, an employer usually has no obligation to provide an employee severance pay. If severance pay is offered, an employer will almost always provide the employee with a severance agreement.

Like most states, Virginia maintains a common law rule that employees are at will, meaning that they can be terminated for any reason or no reason, and mutually, the employee may terminate his or her employment for any reason or no reason, unless the employee is under a contract otherwise.

This means that, absent an employment contract, either the employer or the employee may terminate the employment arrangement at any time. Also, the termination may occur for any reason, or no reason at all, as long as the motivations for firing the worker are not illegal.

If an employer makes a lump sum severance payment at the time the worker is separated from a job but allocates the severance payment to a week or weeks other than the week in which the payment is made, then the worker's weekly unemployment benefits will be reduced in each claimed week to which the severance payment is

A: Currently the maximum weekly benefit amount is $378 and the minimum is $60. Individuals must have earned at least $18,900.01 in two quarters during the base period to qualify for the maximum weekly benefit amount. Benefit duration varies from 12 to 26 weeks, also depending on wages earned in the base period.

If severance pay does extend the employment relationship, however, unemployment benefits may not be available until the severance ends. For example, if you receive a lump sum amount of severance on your last day of work, you may apply for unemployment.

You will be disqualified if the deputy determines that you quit your job without good cause, or you were fired from your job for misconduct in connection with your work. You and your employer have the right to appeal the deputy's determination if either of you disagrees with the results.

Under California law, severance pay is not considered wages for unemployment purposes. Instead, it is considered a payment in recognition of your past service. Even if it is paid out in installments, as yours will be, it doesn't count against your unemployment.