My husband just lost his job

[SunBride]

I know this is probably a common thread these days, but let me tell you I NEVER expected to be the one posting this. A couple months ago I mentioned to my husband that we should probably face the facts there was probably a slight possibility he would loose his job, because he works as a software developer, and the company he works for gets most of its business indirectly from Nortel, and everyone knew Nortel wasn't doing so good. My husband re-assured me that there was no way at all he would loose his job, because his company was doing so strongly, and he was one of their favorite employees. I tried to make him acknowledge that there was the slightest possibility (I mean, to me it seemed like there was the slightest possibility for everyone, except maybe federal gov't workers like me).

 

Anyways, so last week Nortel announced its bankrupcy. Okay so maybe we are just stupid or what but we were not at all concerned about his job. Honestly, I don't think the thought ever crossed either of our minds that he might loose his job. In fact, friday morning I drop 4000$ on a vacation to Jamaica!!! We were suppose to leave in 2 weeks.

 

Friday afternoon he finds out there is a big meeting at work Monday morning. He knows it's likely they are doing lay-offs but he was super confident he wouldn't be one of them. He says they would have to lay-off 75% of the company before laying him off. So we don't really worry about it all weekend. We figure worse case scenario is he will get a pay cut.

 

Well this morning he gets the news that he is laid off. They laid off almost half the company. Nobody understands why him. Seriously, not to toot my husband's horn but he is VERY good at what he does. After getting the news, while saying good-bye to his colleagues, everyone is in complete disbelief that he was one of the ones laid off. He says it was awful. Everyone was crying.

 

He was actually only temporarily laid off, for 3 months and then they will let him know if he gets his job back or not. I am thinking the chances are slim. And he does not want to sit around for 3 months. So he doesn't want to count on being re-hired.

 

Really, it could be so much worse. I work for the federal government, so my job is pretty much guaranteed. If we are very careful with our money we can probably get by paying the bills with just my salary (I am already careful now, as I am naturally a cheap person, but now I mean going to just the basic of paying mortgage, bills and food and nothing else at all). Luckily I bought cancelation insurance on the trip and it covers lay-offs.

 

One of our closest friends who works with my husband got permanently laid off, and he has 3 kids, and his wife is a stay at home mom. I feel so bad for them.

[Helen_S81]

I'm so sorry to hear about this.

 

My husband got laid off in 1991 and it was devasting to us at the time. Here we were, two small children, a huge mortgage, me a stay at home mom, laid off from a company that had brought us over from England. It turned out to be a great thing. He got a decent severance package, and got another job within a month, only thing was it meant moving from Brockville to Toronto. But we did it and here we are.

 

Try and keep a positive attitude, and be open to all possibilites.

 

Good luck!

[Betsy]

Oh my gosh, I am SO sorry to hear this! Is he getting any sort of severance package? Wow I am totally speechless - just know that we are thinking of you and your husband and will pray for the best.

[Erika J]

My FI got laid off the second week of Dec. It absolutly SUCKED!!!

 

It has been hard to spend $ on the wedding when he is now busting his butt at an hourly job to make ends meet.

 

I just hate the stupid economy.

 

[SunBride]

he does not get a severence package since it is a temporary lay-off. If in 3 months he finds out the lay-off is permanent, he will get one week of pay for every year he has worked there, so in his case 5 years = 5 weeks of pay.

 

Until then, nothing.

[Betsy]

What the heck does his company expect him to do for 3 months? Sit around and freakin wait? Oh my gosh - I'm so sorry once again! Wow. Are there any openings anywhere that could be a possibility for him?

[SunBride]

Funny thing about the economy is that recently I had been saying that as people who were not affected by the poor economy, that it was our civic duty to keep spending! (as an economist I couldn't help but think this way, as I know that if everyone panics and stops spending it just makes it all worse!)

[SunBride]

He is pretty positive, hoping he can find a new job fairly quickly. I don't know though, there will be a lot of people from Nortel loosing their jobs and the market may become flooded quickly.

 

It's especially hard because he loved the company he worked for. It was voted one of the best companies in Ottawa a few years in a row by HR magazine. He has never wanted to look elsewhere because he always thought it would be a step down.

 

 

THANK GOODNESS we aren't in the wedding planning stage. That would have killed me.

 

I am really dreading telling my parents. I know they are going to feel SO SO bad for us, and they are currently away on an extended vacation right now so I don't want them feeling crappy, but they need to know.

[katrina]

i was laid off last week and it sucks a lot. definitely the worst ego crusher i think i've ever had. but out of dh and i, i wasn't really the bread winner so it could have been much worse. does canada have unemployment that he can file for? not sure how it works up there, but down here i get just about 2/3 of what i was making from the government.

[becks]

I am SO sorry to hear this. How awful!

 

When it comes to layoffs, sometimes its the strongest performers who are let go, for the simple reason that they are often paid more than some of the others. It's unreasonable, but companies do it anyway.

 

Fingers crossed that he finds something soon!