Severance payments and Unemployment Insurance Question
My spouse was recently laid off and qualified for unemployment insurance. Her former job gave her severance but broke it up installments instead of a lump sum. Will this affect her ability to file and collect? The information we’ve found online say Illinois doesn’t consider severance, whether in lump sums or installments, as income but we can’t seem to find any concrete answers to this on the official IDES website.
Terry Says
As a practical matter this IS going to impact her ability to collect unemployment! The law is different in many states, and Illinois does not consider severance as wages. But that means she would have to certify as having “no income” during that period. If she mentions receiving ANY money from her former employer the system is so messed up that I guarantee you they will cut her off and sue her!
Here is he legal information on how Illinois treats severance for unemployment purposes:
https://www.illinoislegalaid.org/legal-information/can-i-get-severance-pay-and-unemployment-benefits#:~:text=You%20are%20allowed%20to%20get,usually%20affect%20your%20unemployment%20benefits.
