First, it is important to determine if you are being laid off or if you are being
placed on a "temporary leave in accordance with your company's leave policies." In
the first scenario, being laid off, this means that you do not have a job to come
back to and will be asked to reapply.
If you are placed on leave – whether paid or unpaid – this means that your workplace
is temporarily suspending services but will keep your position for you and expect you to return when the company reopens.
If you are not sure, please ask this question directly of your boss or your HR office,
as this is a very important distinction.
If you are being placed on leave in accordance with an official policy, then the
days you are not working will not count as unemployment and will not count against
your 90-day maximum period of unemployment (your "unemployment clock").
If you are being laid off, however, you are required to report this end in employment
within 10 days. These days will count against your 90-day unemployment clock. It is
important to note that the international community has asked SEVP and USCIS to issue
guidance on this issue and consider a temporary halt in counting of unemployment days
– if any update is released (and we hope it will be) we will share it with you.
In the meantime, we have to operate under the normal rules. If you are not clear on how many days you have left
of your 90-day unemployment clock, please contact Global Education for an update.
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