I got laid off back in February. The best advice I can give your sister in law is not to dwell on it and get out there ASAP.
Basically I was laid off to make room for a manager who was friends of a senior manager.
(Long story but these two managers live together and they also go on holidays together.
)
Thing is a local customer account has gone South in a big way because this incompetent idiot that replaced me.
He pushed back on the customer and wouldn't budge. He just worked to the contract and he kept muttering about transparency.
(The IT community in my state is small and I was told about it from the customers point of view)
The customer expected more for their money & they didn't get it. They're now going through a dispute process and it's looking ugly.
Honestly I'm glad I got out when I did.