Explain My Severance – Part 11: What Happens if I Miss the 21-Day Deadline in My Severance Agreement?
If you have recently received a severance agreement, chances are it has a 21-day deadline by which to sign, or the agreement is no longer valid. So what happens if you miss this deadline? Chances are … nothing.
By and large, your (now former) employer is not offering you severance to be nice. Rather, your employer is offering you severance in exchange for your promises to: not sue, not disparage, not solicit, not compete, not disclose, etc. That’s what they are paying you for, and your employer wants to you to sign the contract. When you sign your severance agreement, your employer can breathe a sigh of relief knowing it no longer has to worry about you.
The 21-day deadline is a bi-product of this law called the Older Worker Benefit Protection Act. Under this law, employees over 40 have to get at least 21 days to consider their severance agreement. From this, the 21-day deadline was born.
But if the employer wants you to sign the severance agreement, why have the deadline at all? There are a few reasons for this:
- Sometimes a deadline is a good pressure tactic. When you sign a severance agreement, you are signing away your right to sue the company. Employers can use a deadline to pressure you into signing a severance agreement that does not adequately value the rights you are giving up. That is why it is important to review and consider your agreement as soon as possible.
- Make sure you think about whether you were discriminated on the basis of your age, race, gender, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, etc. Were you treated differently because of any of these protected classes? Were you paid all of the wages you earned? Were you paid on time? Did you get overtime? Because you may well be signing away a viable – and valuable – claim. If you have your suspicions, call or e-mail, so that we can determine whether you should be negotiating for more severance.
- Sometimes, a deadline is common sense. You can’t wait forever. Even if the employer really does want you to sign, sometimes too much time has passed. But if you are only a few days overdue, it is probably not a big deal.
Our firm has revived expired severance agreements for many clients. To learn more, please call or e-mail.
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