I’ve Just Lost My Job — Now What?

It’s strange to be made redundant in your 20s, but unfortunately during this current situation, many young Aussies are in the same boat. Whether you just landed a graduate position or finally felt you’d settled into your dream job, getting laid off is always a challenging situation to deal with.

For many people this year (myself included) it came as a shock and it’s important to remember it’s not a reflection on you and your performance. Sadly, we’ve all been dealt with a tough hand at the moment and companies have been forced to make hard decisions to survive. In this article, I’m going to highlight some of the documents you’ll need and steps to take if you’re made redundant this year.

What Does it Mean to Be Made Redundant?

Before we dive into this too much, let’s check out what Fairwork Australia has to say about redundancies.

Fairwork says that a genuine redundancy is when:

• the person’s job doesn’t need to be done by anyone
• the employer followed any consultation requirements in the award, enterprise agreement or other registered agreement.

Fairwork goes on to say that when an employee’s dismissal is a genuine redundancy the employee isn’t able to make an unfair dismissal claim. If you believe you were dismissed unfairly and not made redundant, you have 21 days starting from the day after you were dismissed to lodge an application with the Fair Work Commission.

If you are eligible for redundancy, you’ll receive a redundancy package based on the time you’ve worked for the company. Make sure you review the relevant entitlements for your industry and calculate how much your redundancy package should be.

See Coronavirus and Australian Workplace Laws

Ask your employer for the following things:

1) Redundancy Letter

It’s important to get your redundancy in writing and employers are supposed to provide you with a written notice on your final day of work. You may also need this as evidence for a Centrelink payment, rent reduction or pause on credit card payments.

2) Final Payout & Documentation

Once everything has been finalised make sure you know what your final payout figure is and ensure it includes any leave payments you’ve accrued. Also, ask if you can get a final payslip and a PAYG statement you can use at tax time (alternatively provide them with an email to send it over to you at the end of June). Forward any relevant work emails across to your personal email and make sure you have records of key personal documents.

3) Ask About References

Talk to your manager or HR team about who would be most suitable to use as a reference during your future job search. They may even be able to provide you with a written reference, that you can provide a future employer with.

Take a Break to Assess The Situation

Once you’ve got all your paperwork finalised, it’s a good idea to take a few days to work through everything that just happened. Redundancies often come as a shock and it can take some time to figure out who you are again. Have a chat with your family and friends and give yourself a few days before working out an action plan.

Apply For Jobseeker Payments (if eligible) & Relevant Benefits

Particularly relevant right now, but if eligible, make sure you apply for any Centrelink payments as soon as possible, as there’s still quite a backlog. If you need to reduce your rent, pause mortgage or credit card repayments or arrange a payment plan for your bills, get in touch with your providers and ask to talk to their hardship departments straight away.

Start the Job Search

I’m planning to dive into this topic in further detail in a future article, but here are a few things to start thinking about now:

• Update your resume with your most recent work experience and qualifications
• Update your LinkedIn and Seek profile & turn on the job search function
• Start a free online course on edX, FutureLearn, Coursera or Khan Academy to level up your skills
• Contact recruiters that specialise in your industry
• Start thinking about what jobs you might like to do next
• Consider further study to increase your employability or change careers

Let’s get through this challenging time together,

Kate

If you’re interested in learning more about money and personal finance, catch us on the How To Money podcast which you can find on iTunes, Spotify or via our online web-player.

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