Severance Agreements
Written on February 27, 2009 by admin
Filed Under: Labor Law
Frequently Asked Questions about Severance Agreements
Q: Is there a law that requires employers to accommodate severance pay?
No. An employer has no obligation to accommodate severance pay. The alone account that administration acquire to by law accommodate is unemployment compensation.
Q: I heard that my employer has a severance plan. If so, am I advantaged to benefits?
If an employer creates a severance plan, the advisers covered by the Agreement of the plan are advantaged to the allowances that the plan provides aloft the accident of the accident that triggers benefits. However, an employer may create, adapt or abate a severance plan as it sees fit. A lot of administration acquire to acquire no severance plan at all.
If your employer has a severance plan, you are advantaged to a accounting arbitrary description of it. The plan description will acquaint you what, if anything, you are advantaged to receive.
Q: My employer offered a severance Agreement to me, but I acquire to accede not to sue my employer in adjustment to acquire any severance benefits. Can they do that?
Yes. So continued as the employer writes the plan to action a absolution of rights (i.e., a affiance not to sue) on transaction of any severance benefits, you acquire to accede not to sue your employer in adjustment to acquire them.
Q: The severance agreement offered to me gives me 21 (or 45) canicule to accede it. What does this mean? Can I acquire it afore that time?
In adjustment for your affiance not to sue for age bigotry to be enforceable, administration acquire to accord you time to accede any offer. This is advised to anticipate “gun to the head” decisions by employees. As a acknowledged amount the employer cannot abolish the action during the cat-and-mouse period, giving you time to accede it. However, the cat-and-mouse aeon is for your benefit. Generally speaking, if you wish to acquire the action afore the end of the cat-and-mouse period, you can do so.
Q: What happens to the waiting period if I ask my employer for a better package?
Technically, already you ask for a bigger amalgamation you acquire “rejected” the administration action by authoritative a “counteroffer”, which the employer can acquire or reject. Therefore, you run the accident of accident the affirmed action by authoritative a counteroffer. However, in convenance a lot of administration will not abolish their action if you accomplish a counteroffer, but will leave their aboriginal action on the table if they do not wish to accommodate it. To be clear, though, you acquire to be able to lose the action if you accomplish a counteroffer.
Q: I am absorbed to acquire the severance package, but I do not apperceive what, if anything, my rights are account that I will be giving up. What should I do?
Consult acknowledged admonition to appraise any claims that you may have. Find out what your claims are account if you were to win, the affairs that you acquire of acceptable and the attorneys’ fees and cloister costs that you will pay in an accomplishment to win. You should again analyze this (plus the affliction and ambiguity of litigating) to the allowances offered by your employer.
Q: Are there any “rules of thumb” for how abundant severance an employer will pay?
No, but we will action some anyways.. Again, an employer has no obligation to accommodate severance payments. Administration rarely action severance pay to alternate workers. Administration who action severance will about accommodate one anniversary per year of account to advisers beneath the administrator or controlling rank, and up to a ages per year of account to admiral and officers. In addition, some severance affairs cap allowances at a defined level, such as one anniversary or ages of severance pay for the aboriginal 18 years of employment
