That's what I thought, too.
But HR/Legal pulled a fast one - after December 8th, they will start paying out all of my accrued vacation/personal time, then put me on "unpaid leave", like forever or until I retire.
It is (legally) considered self-separation, so they don't fire me and there is no legal recourse on my part.
I'm 63, I can retire - so screw them - let them hire some new college kid with 42 years of aviation experience under his belt....
This depends entirely on your State. Texas, for example, counts unpaid leave as being unemployed for the sake of receiving unemployment.
https://www.cokinoslaw.com/texas-supreme-court-employees-are-unemployed-while-on-unpaid-leave/