hey h1bwala..
First of all, doesn\'t all this make you say, "life sucks", isn\'t it?.. Any how, I think you can take your chances. If your RIR gets denied, your case will automatically (as far as I know) becomes non-rir, also, if you apply non-rir (MA SESA is still stuck with Apr 30.. and nobody has any idea when it will be say May 2002). More over may be Labor market will become much better in a while and lay off does not matter or you have very good lawyer, who can present you case well. Also, if there are no layoffs in previous six months on the date of your case being considered, it seems to be ok, i assume. May be your lawyer can provide a better understanding of your situation. Hope some day, we all get our pink colored cards...