Affordable New Ways to Get Job Skills

NJ does not pay for tuition for all laid off workers

When the telecom industry crashed and I was downsized, I accepted at age 48 an early retirement package that provided a pension and health care for myself and family (the company rescinded on its health care promise one year later). The amount of the pension was very small, certainly not enough for one person to live on, let alone a family. When I went to my local NJ unemployment office I was told that because I received a pension I did not qualfy for unemployment or any of the state's tuition reimbursement / re-training programs. But many of my colleagues from other telecom companies who received substantial lump sums from their companies (which yielded more annual interest than my yearly pension) in addition to free health care for life did qualify. I eventually secured a full-time job for which I am now required by the State to have unemployment insurance deducted -- even though I will never qualify for it because I continue to receive that small pension.