Employer states voluntarily quit but I was layed off due to out scourcing (lawyer)

[Speygman1]

I have received a notice of interview from unemployment because my previous employer is stating that I voluntarily quit, when I was actually layed off.
The company told me that they were out scourcing my position and gave me a date for the last day i would be employed by them.
They did offer me a severance pay and I declined and told them I would stay until the last day they needed me.

They had told me that I could put in applications within the company while I am still employed there, which I did.
I put several applications in and got called for one interview which unfortunately I did not get the job.
So bottom line i stayed until the last day they asked and then called unemployment to see if I qualified and they said I did.
I have been on unemployment the past year because shortly after I was layed off, covid began spreading and it was difficult to find work.
If anyone has any advice for my phone interview it would be very appreciated! Thank you!

[Curly Q. Bobalink]

Do you have any paperwork from them at the time you were terminated? Any emails or other written communication stating what you said above is true? If so, print it out, organize it, and tell IDES what you stated in your post, and that you have supporting evidence of it. If so, I can't see you having a problem at all.

[MSchemist80]

Employers lie all the time to try and get out of unemployment. They burden of proof is on them. You should post in the unemployment forum though.

[Grlzrl]

Why on earth would you decline severance?

[deeman7]

Originally Posted by Grlzrl

Why on earth would you decline severance?

Maybe the terms of the severance agreement wasn't worth the money they were providing?

[Speygman1]

I declined severance because I had not been there long enough to get enough back that would be worth it.
Thanks for the advice guys.
I will post in the unemployment forum.

[wjj]

Originally Posted by Grlzrl

Why on earth would you decline severance?

Because some severance agreements have severe restrictions as a condition of accepting the money, especially regarding non-compete. Many if not most employers will ask about any severance agreements or non-competes that might be in place before finalizing a job offer because they do not want to get in the middle of a non-compete/confidential information dispute with a former employer that would limit the ability of the new employee from effectively doing the job they were hired to do. Or even getting the new employer sued by the former employer. That is nothing new and has been the case for decades. I have a friend who got Covid-furloughed and then let go last year just as he was accepting another job. There was a severance agreement offered but it was riddled with restrictions if he accepted the money that otherwise would not exist. He consulted a few trusted friends and a lawyer and the new employer's legal department and all concluded that he pass on the severance agreement and just leave on his termination date and start at the new company the next day. I spent a career working in a world where there were strict non-compete and confidential information disclosure agreements everywhere in the industry, but when I reviewed this friend's agreement, I was surprised how restrictive it was if he accepted the money. Yeah, some of it was probably unenforceable but it would take years to litigate and in the meantime, he would have been toxic to any new employer in the industry. Turning down the money was absolutely the best thing to do.