What is a severance agreement?
An employer drafted agreement with employer favoring terms that documents an employee accepting money in exchange for relinquishing certain rights.
Can I negotiate my severance agreement?
You can try to negotiate anything. Like all negotiations the ability to negotiate boils down to the players and leverage (real or perceived). First step is identifying the dynamics and the second step is strategizing based on the information.
How should I negotiate my severance agreement?
You should entering negotiating your severance agreement understanding that the employer can withdraw their offer and you get zero. If you cannot accept that potentiality then you should accept the severance.
If you can accept the risk of getting nothing then there are several paths to negotiating a severance, each depends on the specific facts of the employer-employee relationship.
Why should I have a lawyer review my severance agreement?
The answer is yes. A severance agreement may appear neutral and mutual on its face, but can have real world consequences that can prohibit or limit you from exercising legal rights later.
Bottom Line.
We review severance agreements and identify provisions that are non-standard, one-sided and potentially waive a client’s legal rights and remedies.
We discuss the client’s real world considerations of signing a proposed severance agreement, their bargaining strength, the desired terms, and other objectives.
We discuss alternative strategies, give counsel based on experience and determine a method of executing the agreed upon strategy.