Employment contracts often include highly detailed terms. Each party outlines their expectations for the working relationship and even what happens after it ends. Employers establish performance standards and explain what wages they intend to provide.
Contracts can restrict future competition and limit the sharing of non-public information. They can also theoretically help workers transition out of a position if they lose their jobs suddenly. Employment contracts, including executive contracts, often include severance agreements.
Professionals often negotiate severance packages to ensure that they can receive pay or maintain certain critical benefits, like health insurance, for a set amount of time after losing their jobs. What can frustrated professionals do if their employers attempt to violate the terms of a severance agreement?
Validate the original arrangement
Workers signing employment agreements when they first accept jobs may not review terms particularly carefully. They can also forget details during their time with the company.
As such, a careful review of the contract’s terms may be necessary to validate the terms of the severance package. Many times, employers provide themselves with an easy out. They allow for the elimination of severance in cases where they can show that they terminated a worker for cause or where the company becomes insolvent and must restructure.
Provided that the contract does affirm the worker’s belief that they are eligible for severance given their circumstances, they may have grounds to take legal action. Companies do not always have to provide severance pay, but they do need to uphold their contracts with workers.
Pursuing contract litigation against a former employer can help workers obtain the severance packages that they deserve. Employees may need those resources to support themselves and their loved ones as they transition from one position to another.