By THOMAS HARTLEY
Business First

"Downsizing," "rightsizing" and "re-sizing" are euphemisms for the cost-cutting that rising numbers of employers are using to navigate through these trying times.

Some use layoffs. Others fire workers. A few schedule employees to work fewer hours or take unpaid days off, as media giant Gannett Co. recently announced.

General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and some other employers are trimming their workforces with buyouts and retirement incentives.

As the current economic crisis spreads and deepens, more cutbacks are certain within almost every sector of the labor force.

When an employee is at risk of layoff or termination, says Robert Boreanaz, a Buffalo lawyer who specializes in labor issues, there are certain considerations and procedures employees and employers should know.

"The only things that employees are entitled to keep after they are terminated are vested pension benefits," says Boreanaz, with Lipsitz Green Scime Cambria LLP.

"As for employers, they need to make sure that the individual gets their final paycheck on the regular pay day. An employer cannot delay it beyond the normal time."

For example, if an employee is fired on a Monday and employees are normally paid on Friday, the individual must get paid no later than that Friday, Boreanaz said.

A less-defined area is whether an employee can take unused sick time, vacation, or personal time, he said. That will depend on whether there is a written policy, or even an unwritten one, that covers those issues.

"If the policy is not written and the employee has a verbal claim, the claim could be enforceable," Boreanaz said.

If there is no written or oral policy, the employer has no obligation to the employee, he said.

Concerning health insurance, a terminated or laid-off employee can continue coverage under the self-pay arrangement called COBRA. But it's not cheap. Qualified individuals may have to pay the premium for coverage up to 102 percent of the cost to the plan.

COBRA usually requires that employer-sponsored group plans offer employees and their families the opportunity for a temporary extension of health coverage in certain instances where it otherwise would end.

Finally, employees are not entitled to severance benefits, Boreanaz said, but if offered, severance can carry pitfalls.

"If employees receive a severance option, they must get 21 days to look it over. Because the benefit includes a wide-sweeping release, they are advised to contact a lawyer before signing," Boreanaz said.

Severance packages can include a clause that releases the employer from any future claim an employee might have.