Creating Equity & Belongingness
- Host – Michele Heyward, Founder, PositiveHire
- Guest – Lisa Anderson, President, Positively in Pursuit
Lisa is a veteran of 25 years in human resources. She is also an executive in HR and has an executive coaching program. Some people in the community have been working with Lisa as they climb the ladder in their professional careers.
Preparing for Unemployment
With unemployment, unemployment is a state-driven benefit. Each state has its own rules when it comes to unemployment. So you want to get online and do your homework. In DMV, we have two states and the District right close to have reciprocity of benefits. So in other words, I live in Maryland, but I work in Virginia. So when I go to file for unemployment, I go to file in the state that I work in versus the state I live in. And that’s because the area has reciprocity.
Tip #1: You want to find out for your particular state, what the rules are, because every state has a different rule. Do your homework, and research your particular state. A lot of states are now where there’s normally a 26 week max benefit on unemployment, with the pandemic hitting a lot of states have extended that, due to some of the federal laws that have come out.
Benefits Extended?
A lot of many companies do it different ways, for my company, those employees that were furloughed, they didn’t have paychecks to do deductions from. It is about flexibility. We did payment plans with them to pay back any benefits that were missed, instead of them having to go out of pocket. Pandemic is outside everybody’s control, companies will do special things like that.
If you get in a situation situation where you’re impacted for layoff, absolutely ask the manager or HR or whoever: “Okay, today’s the 29th, my benefits are going to end on the 31st. Is there something you only given me two days here? So can it be extended? To give me more time?” A lot of people don’t know how to ask that question of their company.
Navigating Unemployment
If you generally know where you fall with your tax return, it may work out for you. If you think you have a tax impact at the end of the year, it is best to just tell them, go ahead and take it. Some states have no state tax, it just depends on what state you’re filing in for tax purposes.
Watch the full video to catch up on the Q&A to know more about resume, retirement decisions and more…
Dr. Aparajita (AJ) Jeedigunta
Dr. Aparajita (AJ) Jeedigunta is a spouse, a parent to a neurodistinct child, and a two-time Traumatic Brain Injury survivor turned Warrior and Advocate. She is also a trained social-personality psychologist, a certified professional executive & leadership coach, a published author, a podcaster and one of only 34 people around the world who are advanced certified practitioners of professional development tools.
As an award-winning Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belongingness & Leadership strategist, consultant, trainer and transformational coach, and one of the Top 20 career coaches in the Metro Detroit area, Dr. AJ helps high performers with big dreams exponentially increase their leadership presence, income and social impact while permanently eliminating the misery of being overworked and under-appreciated. She also helps businesses build DEI & B principles into the foundation of their cultures and all of their business development goals so they can cut costs and increase profits.
She is the Founder & CEO of AJ Rao, a boutique firm whose motto is Making the Invisible Visible for Better Equity and Belongingness. She is also the creator of the Culturally Competent Conversations for Equity and Belongingness (C3EB) Summit & Brand.
Michele Heyward
Michele Heyward is founder and CEO of PositiveHire, a tech company engineered to bridge the gap between enterprises and underrepresented women in STEM professions. Michele is a civil engineer who is an experienced project manager in the energy sector armed with technical sales and technology transfer experience.
Michele’s vision is to not only help black, Latina and indigenous women find inclusive workplaces, but to prepare enterprises to receive them, and help those enterprises recruit them. This approach makes PositiveHire the premiere recruiting platform for black, Latina and indigenous women professionals.
Michele has a B.S. degree in civil engineering and a M.S. degree in industrial management, both from Clemson University. A South Carolina native, Michele enjoys spending time with her family, traveling, Toastmasters, and making connections personally and professionally. Michele has a passion for engaging with others on social media.
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