Employment Severance Package Lawyer
When you are faced with layoff or early retirement due to downsizing, mergers, or department closure, how can you be sure that the severance package offered by your employer is sufficient, fair, and legal? Wisconsin employees in and around the Milwaukee metro area often contact Alan C. Olson & Associates, s.c. to request a free initial phone consultation before signing such agreements.
In addition to employment-related litigation, we also review severance package offers to help determine whether or not you are being treated fairly by your former employer. Loss of a long-term job is considered one of the top three stressors an adult will encounter. Keeping this in mind, there are a number of considerations in negotiating and evaluating the appropriateness of a severance agreement:
- Value of Legal Claims You Are Releasing
- Rate of Pay
- Length of Service
- Level of Responsibility
- Health, Life and Disability Benefits
- Profit Sharing
- Bonus Money
- Outplacement Service
- Letter of Recommendation
- Positive Job References
- Time Needed to Secure a Comparable Job
It is not uncommon for an employee to receive severance pay equal to one to two weeks pay for every year of service when the employee has no legal claims against the employer. Every severance package will require you to release your employer from liability in exchange for the compensation. The full value of your legal claims may be greater than one to two weeks pay per year of service. Accordingly, your legal claims against your former employer must be taken into account before entering a severance agreement.
It is also important to consider the length of time you will need to secure a comparable job. You should anticipate your job search to last 1 month for every $10,000.00 in salary you are seeking, as a standard rule in the placement industry. This rule of thumb is affected by current economic conditions and your willingness to relocate.
Finally, federal law requires that any employee over 40 years of age have no less than 21 days to consider a severance offer and 7 days after signing the agreement to revoke acceptance.
When Alan C. Olson & Associates is on your side in your severance negotiations, an experienced negotiator will guide you through the process. Your attorney will deal directly with your employer’s decision-maker during an efficient face-to-face process. Typically, the employee does not need to be present at this meeting if he or she prefers to leave the negotiating to us.
Before you sign a severance agreement, please contact us to discuss the terms of the contract and the ways in which we can handle the negotiations most effectively for you.
