1) I am very sorry for the news. You are going to get thru this, have faith. Take some time to process and digest what happened. When you are able to, start applying for a new job aggressively and persistently. If your interest is longevity, try to aim for mid-size to large stable companies. I read in a recent statistic that 50% of small biz fail by year 5 and 70% by year 10.
2) Find every HR document you ever received from this company and signed for your job. Look to see if it has any jargon about termination. Also, do you have an HR representative? If so, reach out to them to find out the process involved of receiving your final paycheck. Depending on the company they may have to process some final things before issuing your final paycheck. When you reach out each time call and more importantly, put your specific questions in writing. For ex:
a) When can you expect to get your final paycheck and will it also account for unused leave?
b) Can you get an official letter from them on company letterhead that confirms that you are let go due to reduction in force?
c) Ask HR to highlight or point you to the HR reference that addresses the termination process.
3) Put your request in writing and select (read receipt). For every week that goes by that they do not respond, reach out again 2 more times (cc'ing the CEO, since he reached out to you with the news). This serves as evidence that you inquired, and they have not responded.
4) If you think you are owed money, calculate how much you think are owed and consider the pay period cycle.
5) If your company is unresponsive, try to contact Attorneys from Small Business Associations (SBAs) in your state to see if you can ask some legal questions pro-bono from either a labor attorney or even a small business attorney. Although a small biz attorney represents small biz, they should still be able to answer questions about what rules/regulations applies to small businesses in terms of terminating an employee.
6) If you have not done so already, save every time sheet by taking screenshots or as a PDF to show trends of time previously worked for each previous payperiod. Also save each electronic paycheck that showed a break down of hours and paid, should you had to prove what you were accustomed to being paid each period prior to termination.
7)Depending how much you are owed should play a role as to whether to invest anytime in this to where you want to seek legal action. It takes, time, money and energy and time away from either applying for new jobs or time off from work from a new job in the future if leave is needed for court.
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