Employment and Severance Agreements
It is very common for a highly compensated employee to have an employment agreement with their employer that specifies the broad terms and conditions of their employment including a general description of their job and their areas of responsibility, the employee’s compensation including such things as stock options, bonuses and benefits, as well as various other issues normally covered in an employment agreement with an executive or highly compensated employee.
Invariably such an employment agreement will specify that the employee’s employment is “at will”, which means that the employee can still be terminated at any time for any reason or for no reason. In many instances the employment agreement will specify the severance benefits the employee is to receive upon termination.
If you have an employment agreement, it is a contract with the company. You are entitled to the benefit of the bargain that you made but sometimes an employer may try to wiggle out of its obligations under an employment agreement. Whether or not you have a written employment agreement, if you are terminated and your employer offers to pay you a severance you should be very cautious. Your employer will expect you to sign a full release of all claims you may have against the employer as a condition to paying you the severance.
This is a situation where you should consider consulting with an experienced employment attorney to make sure that you understand what rights you are giving up and what it is that you are getting in the exchange and that the deal makes sense. As an example, you need the experience of an employment attorney to help you decide if the severance you are being offered by your employer justifies relinquishing a claim you may have for discrimination in the workplace. An employment lawyer should know what terms are standard and what terms are unreasonable, and she may be able to negotiate a higher severance if the severance benefits you have been offered are too low.
