Question for anyone that's been through it... wife was laid off today by her company. It's probably a blessing in disguise but they're offering her 1 month severance package to sign an agreement. She's a model employee, does her work, doesn't skip tasks, never got in trouble, even the reasoning they give is "due to reconstruction of the organization". She is a good employee in good standing with everyone but the coward they hired above her. The other people that had to be involved with this were not thrilled about the decision, HR rep, IT guy, her reports, etc. They've offered her 1 month severance pay after 3 years, it seems light to me but the only other experience I have with it is the absolute trainwreck of an employee in my office demanding 3 months severance, receiving 4. I know they don't have to offer but this smells like a company that knows it's pulling something shady and is making sure they don't get sued. I think their agreement could use revisions, anyone have advice on this? My proposals: 3 months pay for 3 years productive service. Health care extends through the summer back into a new school year. Stored PTO and Sick time be included. Employer contributions to 401k remain intact. It says they'd be willing to be a neutral reference in the future and speak only to time employed, pay amount and the reason of "restructuring" as why she was let go. I want this to say she'll receive a positive reference like she deserves, one that speaks to her character and track record of getting things done like any supervisor worth a sneeze would be willing to do. It says she can file for unemployment but they can appeal. I want the "they can appeal" language removed. Basically you want her to leave and not sue you for wrongful termination or discrimination? You don't want her telling people on job sites what happened? You want to let the other employees know they aren't just a day away from being in the wind? Pay up.
In my experience when HR does mass layoffs and tries to get people to sign these agreements, they so so very rigidly and they aren't going to be very receptive to negotiating individual deals. That's just my experience, maybe the particulars of her job give her more leverage, or I just worked for a special class of moron or something.
I never even knew these were things that could be negotiated, but I would say she should definitely be getting 1 month of severance for each year worked, at a minimum.
The question for you is what leverage does she have? Sounds to me like the only leverage is to threaten to not sign the agreement. Not signing presents you with two possible outcomes; HR rep is willing to up the offer or they walk her out the door with nothing, By not signing, you can up the threat by 'going public' with your grievances. Good luck. Sounds crappy.
As @DaDakota wrote, she can certainly ask. I worked for a mid size company and they used to have a good severence package. 6 weeks + vacation + 2 weeks a year. That eventually went down to 4 weeks. Is the policy written down or do they make it up as they go along?
Never take the first offer. I negotiated my wife’s one month severance to six months with one year of cobra coverage paid by them
We just merged with another company. Severance package was 1 week for every year of service (2 weeks minimum...so if less than 2 years, you get two weeks). I think you got 3 months Cobra and vacation paid out. I have never heard of someone negotiating this, but I'm not in HR. So in my company, your wife would have gotten 3 weeks, instead of 4. When I've heard of people getting more severance than they were due per policy, it was normally a "we need to get rid of them right now" type of thing. The risk you run when trying to negotiate, if you want to be super firm, is getting a reputation. Like I wouldn't want to threaten to sue for wrongful termination (are you all in Texas? With Texas an at will work state and employers being able to let employees go for anything other then discrimination - would seem hard to get wrongful termination unless you can prove something...good employees get let go all the time when times are bad), because if she gets that reputation could be hard for the next job if word gets around. I'd probably ask, but wouldn't go ballistic about it.
Good luck but you're applying rational thought to irrational, and clueless, HR. If this is a relatively organized and larger company you're going to get what you get. I suppose you could start throwing around some scary buzzwords, like discrimination or something, but I doubt that changes much. But it doesn't hurt to pushback and make things uncomfortable for them...it's not like they can fire her again
a coven of witches and warlocks may seem irrational, but they certainly aren’t clueless. Although they may pretend to be as a form of medieval torture.
Risk Analysis 101 Companies position will be if this person sues us, right or wrong, how much in lawyer fees will it cost us to defend against this? And what are the chances that we lose. Try and get that number and settle at that amount.
Isn't one week per year served the standard? BTW, I hope she's wasn't employed in Texas. We have the absolute worst employee protection in the country.
Is this in a right to work state? If in Texas, they don't have to give you ****, so be careful. What is your leverage for then to up their offer?
The leverage is that it’s a worker’s market and a small world. If they **** your over they lose a shot at rehiring you and word of mouth is powerful.
It wasn't even mass layoffs. They "restructured" and it was just her, none of the old white guys or engineers who do ****all just the admin they felt made too much money. The worst she ever did was complain a bit about going back to the office after quarantine orders. They'd go back, outbreak would hit, they'd go home, rinse, repeat for about 18 months. Over the last 2 years half the company quit and got replaced by oil/gas types who want to run a distinctly not oil/gas business in that cutthroat manner. Directors, senior management, field crews, engineers, everyone worth their paycheck has left or soon will. Yes, in Texas. Our leverage is if we don't sign we can go get unemployment and tell people what happened. We also (thankfully) don't really need the money so they can respond however they want it's not going to hurt us. But if they are going to offer and we are going to agree, it'll be a bigger bag than 1 month for sure.
Good luck keep us posted. I recall a company wanting me to sign one.......and I was negotiating - meanwhile their biggest competitor had reached out to me, and I was like sure, I can work with you, so I strung along the old company who was lying to their investors, and I couldn't stand the CEO - and told him that he should be truthful so the board can make informed decisions...... Then, just before we agreed, I signed with their competitor took my entire business there, and told them to stick it where the son doesn't shine. 2 months later, the chairman of their board fired the CEO - and called me offering that job......I politely declined this time - but appreciated that he recognized I was trying to help. Get what you can - you are your own company. DD
