Check your final payout amount   (Updated Nov 19, 2022.)

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Check that you actually received the gross (pre-tax-withholding) severance payment or PRP bonus that you are supposed to get. (The withholding tax rate may be very high. It is calculated per IRS formula as though you make that much on every check throughout the year. You will get credit for this when you do your taxes.)

A couple of members have indicated that they didn't receive the correct amount -- caused by incorrect data in HP's system for their termination date, years of service, part-time vs. full-time status, or some other factor.

Service at predecessor companies. Of the many Hewlett-Packard predecessor companies, only HP and DEC had retiree healthcare programs. Only HP, DEC, and EDS had pension plans. Over the years, HP, DEC, and EDS set aside money in dedicated trust funds to pay for those programs. Compaq, Tandem, Autonomy, etc. did not have retiree healthcare or pensions among their benefits programs. Their employees did not have those expectations and there were no corresponding trust funds to pass on to an acquiring company. Therefore, employees of those companies do not get credit under HP's retiree healthcare or pension programs for service at the predecessor. (DEC employees get retiree health credit for DEC and HP service but not Compaq service.) Predecessor service counts for vacation/FTO. Details: DEC  EDS

The key document for a US employee retirement or health plan is the legal Summary Plan Description (SPD). The current SPD takes precedence over any other written, online, or verbal information you may have been given. The employer's plan administrator is required by law to provide the SPD upon request. Log into the plan administrator's website or call.  How to decode an SPD

As part of the WFR or PRP, you received a legal document called a "Summary Plan Description." (SPD) The Summary Plan Description you were sent defines how your severance payment or PRP bonus are to be calculated. The current SPD takes precedence over any other written, online, or verbal information you may have been given. The employer's plan administrator is required by law to provide the SPD upon request. Log into the plan administrator's website or call. 

In addition, an SPD gives the procedure to deal with errors, including:

1. An address to file a formal written claim with the company and

2. A second address to appeal a denied claim at Corporate Legal.

Note that there are deadlines. You should send your written claim or appeal via Certified Mail or some other means that provides proof of delivery.

The wording refers to "ERISA" -- the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA.) This is a legal issue involving conformance to federal law.

3. The third level of escalation is with your state's Department of Labor, which is charged with enforcing state law. (For example, one member referred to submitting a "Wage and Hour Complaint Form" to the Colorado Department of Labor.)

With the large number of people being laid off, the resulting workload for people handling these issues, and the separation into HP Inc. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise -- there are plenty of opportunities for error.

Check the numbers!

Comments: info@hpalumni.org