I’m a frontalier living in France. According to my understanding if I get laid off I can claim the chômage, which gets paid through the french government agency but if I resign I get nothing.
I’m considering options. If I wanted to take a break from work is there a downside of asking to be laid off rather than resigning? Is there a downside for an employer if they fire me?
Anyone done this or thought about it?
(note: usually layoff means social plan, I assume you meant being fired?)
For 120 days (you get something after this as far as I know).
If it’s actually a layoff you’re after, then depending on the terms of the social plan there might be voluntary departures, or maybe you can signal to HR that you’d be happy to be included, I heard that can work.
Otherwise, I kinda assumes most companies hiring cross border worker are aware of how french unemployement likely wouldn’t take it badly if you simply ask when you mention you’re thinking about quitting.
I “manufactured” an exit. I could read the writing on the wall that my boss wasn’t a huge fan of me and despite my best efforts to solve that, didn’t find I was getting anywhere. It was more a personality clash than a delivery one. After my last performance review I told him straight that I would work to fix the areas he had highlighted as needing improvement or he could make me an offer to leave. I actually wanted to leave hence why I made him that proposal knowing he would take it…
I was subsequently given two offers - the first was the standard government mandated severance which I believe was the equivalent of 2 months notice. The other was an employer based offer which was more advantageous and which I obviously took. In theory I was neither fired or laid off, but my contract was terminated - semantics? I was still able to claim unemployment benefits via the insurance payments I had made, but ultimately chose not to do this because you need to actively demonstrate you are looking for a new job (and accept one as soon as you are given an offer) which I did not want to do.
The company I used to work for fired around 40 people. The usual relocation for “countries with less expensive wages”. After their communication I immediately regretted not stepping forward, should have requested to be in that group. The ones that were made redundant got a package and found better jobs (the job market was better at the time). I stayed and the work environment and benefits just got worse and worse.
I worked for a firm that had a round of redundancies and wanted to get picked, but didn’t. Everybody who was made redundant got a great redundancy package, and almost all got better paying jobs immediately.
Not me, but a friend of mine when the company was laying off people for economic reasons. They were denied.
is there a downside of asking to be laid off rather than resigning?
If they say no, they will know you are looking to quit, and you may be passed up for bonuses/promotions/interesting projects. Whether it matters depends on how quickly you effectively quit after.
Exactly. I would have asked if guaranteed to have got it, but thought that asking would be a permanent black mark on me.
When a former employer had a round of lay-offs, I asked my boss to be on that list. Got a decent package and garden leave, so it worked out perfectly for me.
In hindsight, I believe I was on that list anyways, so this move made it easier for me to digest things as I was the one acting, not the company.
Exactly, sometimes it’s just the best thing, you just have to let it go.
I’m going to answer around your question for those that read this thread in the future. As a frontalier, your situation is different but if you were, say, a 3rd country national with an L or linked B permit, the calculation is of an administrative nature. Such a person, if he wants to stay in Switzerland and has another job offer, he must be made redundant and not resign. Otherwise, it is unlikely that he can accept the job offer and stay in Switzerland seamlessly.