by Patrick Sills

Created on: November 19, 2008

Back in 1990 I had been employed at a wholesale optical lab for around five months. My wife and I had relocated to Wisconsin following a job transfer at her company. As an experienced lab optician, I was fortunate to land this position within a week of arriving in our new surroundings. Little did I or my coworkers know that the company that hired me was in financial trouble. Seemingly out of nowhere, we learned one day that another optical firm had purchased our lab. Still, it didn't matter for a couple of months. Everything was the same. Nobody got a pay cut or reduced hours. Our boss was just a different person.

However, it wasn't long afterwards before the rumors started. The new owners were not making a profit. The area was oversaturated with optical labs that had established themselves decades earlier. I kept my chin up despite the gossip, for I was a well-rounded optician with extensive training. While others who had been there knew one or two specific tasks in the lens fabricating process, I knew every step from pulling a blank piece of plastic (or glass) out of the cabinet to placing a freshly-made new pair of eyeglasses on a happy patient's face. Well, this didn't matter in the end. My place of employment was in the throes of a slow death, and the first step would be the dreaded word we all fear: downsizing. I was among the last to be hired and therefore included in the first group to be laid off. I pleaded my case of experience, but longevity was of more importance to the decision-makers.

For the first and thus far only time in my life, I made my way to the Unemployment office downtown. I filled out the proper paperwork and became eligible for this insurance for a period of up to 26 weeks. I was required to actively seek employment a minimum of two times per week and report it. I would receive a check each week that amounted to a small fraction of my previous salary. Fortunately, I landed a new job exactly one week after I was laid off. As a result, I received just one Unemployment check. I have since never had to darken the doorsteps of the Unemployment Bureau.

Although I wasn't technically fired, I was eligible for benefits. In Wisconsin as well as other parts of the United States, fired workers are also eligible provided that the termination of employment was not their fault. Obviously, layoffs are not the workers' faults. In addition, if someone is fired because he or she is simply not cut out for the specific tasks pertinent to the type of work,

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