Tips regarding Severance Offered the Day of Your Termination
Employers sometimes offer severance packages to the employee during a termination meeting. Most employer’s allow the employee to take the severance agreement home to review and let the termination settle in before the employee makes a decision regarding severance. However, some employers request that the employee sign the severance agreement on the spot without the employee having the ability to thoroughly review the severance package and discuss it with their attorney, accountant or spouse. In situations like that, we recommend the following: (1) stay calm during the termination meeting; (2) don’t sign anything and ask that you be able to take severance agreement home to think about it; (3) ask your employer how much time you have to get back to them regarding the severance agreement; and (4) contact an employment lawyer to discuss the terms of the agreement and help you negotiate better terms.
Dated: May 22, 2010 – Castronovo & McKinney, LLC