What to do if you lose your job

• ✺Acting quickly to apply for unemployment benefits can reduce the financial strain of a lost income.
• ✺Understanding your final pay and benefits rights ensures you receive everything you're legally owed.
• ✺Knowing your health insurance options prevents a coverage gap during a vulnerable time.

1. 1Confirm the details of your separation, including your last day and reason given by your employer.
2. 2Review your final paycheck and any PTO payout according to your state's rules.
3. 3Apply for unemployment benefits through your state's unemployment agency as soon as possible.
4. 4Compare health insurance options, like COBRA or an ACA marketplace plan, before your coverage ends.
5. 5Update your resume and begin networking or job searching when you're ready.
6. 6Keep records of your job search activities if your state requires this to maintain unemployment eligibility.

Unemployment insurance

A state-run program providing temporary financial benefits to eligible workers who lose their job through no fault of their own.

COBRA

A federal law allowing eligible employees to temporarily continue employer health coverage after leaving a job, usually at full cost.

Qualifying life event

A major change, like losing a job, that allows enrollment in a new health plan outside normal open enrollment.

• ✗Waiting too long to apply for unemployment benefits after losing a job.
• ✗Not checking your state's specific rules on final paycheck timing and PTO payout.
• ✗Letting health insurance lapse without exploring COBRA or ACA marketplace options.
• ✗Assuming you're automatically disqualified from unemployment if you were let go, when many terminations still qualify.
• ✗Not keeping records of job search efforts if your state requires them to maintain benefits.

• !Being fired for serious misconduct can disqualify you from unemployment benefits in many states, but layoffs and many other separations typically still qualify.
• !Unemployment benefit amounts and duration vary significantly by state.
• !Losing job-based health coverage is a qualifying life event, allowing ACA marketplace enrollment outside the normal window.
• !Many states require ongoing proof of job search activity to keep receiving unemployment benefits.

• Apply for unemployment benefits through your state as soon as possible after losing your job.
• Confirm your final paycheck and any PTO payout according to your state's laws.
• Explore COBRA or ACA marketplace options to avoid a health insurance gap.
• Many terminations, not just layoffs, can still qualify for unemployment benefits.

Totally optional. Nobody's grading you.

1. 1.Apply for unemployment benefits through your state's agency as soon as possible after job loss.
2. 2.Compare COBRA and ACA marketplace options before your employer health coverage ends.

Related lessons:

• How unemployment benefits work
• How to quit a job professionally
• Workplace rights

• Unemployment benefits finder
  CareerOneStop (U.S. Department of Labor)(opens in a new tab)
• Health coverage options after job loss
  HealthCare.gov(opens in a new tab)