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A Release is a Contract - Release Agreements are ALWAYS Enforced |
Why Is My Former Employer Asking Me to Sign a Release? Why is the Company Asking Me to Waive Any Claims I May Have? Separation Agreements Virtually Always Include a Release
Employers usually "bury" the Release provision in a Separation Agreement. For you, the key to that Separation Agreement is the severance and benefits you are offered (i.e. medical coverage). For the employer, the key is the Release.
Employers want you to sign a Release after you have been terminated so that they will not have to worry about you later filing a lawsuit claiming that you were terminated illegally. If you sign a Release, you also give up the right to seek any unpaid wages, commissions, overtime, vacation or sick pay, etc.
Companies typically offer severance and some other benefits in exchange for this Release. If you sign the Release you will lose any and all rights you may have had to sue your employer for discrimination, wrongful termination, unpaid wages, commissions or bonuses, overtime, etc.
Given that most companies only offer between 2 weeks and 3 months of severance to the average longer-term employee (and if you are getting 3 months you are doing reasonably well), and given that a good employment-based lawsuit can generate a year or more of salary and benefits, you should think carefully before signing a Release contained within a Separation Agreement.
Severance Pay Sometimes Includes Wages, Commissions, Bonuses, Overtime, Sick Pay or Vacation Pay the Employee Has Already Earned
One favorite trick of companies is to include as "severance" an amount of money that is equal to what they already owe you under the law (such as accrued vacation pay, bonuses/commissions, pay for people who were fired without the amount of notice required in their employment agreement, etc.).
If I am Offered Severance if I Agree to Quit, Should I Accept That Offer Under Pennsylvania Unemployment Law
Another trick companies use to get you to sign the Release is to agree that they won't fight your unemployment case. That is what I call a promise without value. If you are being offered severance, then you probably did not engage in willful misconduct, so you are going to get unemployment anyway. Thanks for nothing!
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Is the Severance Offered Voluntarily or Because the Company Has to Make Such an Offer |
Philadelphia Employment Attorney representing Employees in Towns such as Malvern, Royersford, Blue Bell, Devon, Berwyn, Narberth, Bala Cynwyd, Bryn Mawr, Broomall, Lawrence Park and Aston
Separation Agreements always contain Releases, and Releases are always upheld by Courts. If you have any question about whether you may be sacrificing important rights by signing a Release, you should really consider hiring a labor lawyer. On many occasions, I have sat down with recently terminated people and told them something that they didn't know - that their rights under Federal statutes such as FMLA, FLSA, ADA and ADEA had likely been violated, and that signing away their rights to prosecute their claims for $700 was probably not a good idea!
When I spot a problem, and renegotiate a severance deal, I do so on a contingent fee basis - that means you pay us nothing unless you receive a better severance offer, and only a percentage of what we are able to negotiate above what you were initially offered. Now, that's a fair deal!
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Negotiating Releases for Pennsylvania Employees Since 1991 |
Philadelphia Are Employment
Attorney Representing Employees
John
A. Gallagher is an employment lawyer who represents employees in
Pennsylvania.
John
typically represents employees who need an employment lawyer in Philadelphia
County, Chester County, Delaware County, Bucks County, Berks County, Lancaster
County and Montgomery County.
Pennsylvania
Employment Attorney Provides Free Telephone Consultations
If you
are looking for an employment lawyer, and live in Malvern,
Wayne, King of Prussia, Downingtown, Glenside, Doylestown, Radnor, Newtown
Square, Exton, Philadelphia, West Chester, Skippack, Langhorne, Haverford,
Nether Providence, Broomall, Drexel Hill, Reading or any of their
surrounding towns, feel free to send me an e-mail or give me a call. I am
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consultation.
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termination, to wage and overtime claims, to discrimination and retaliation laws,
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from willful misconduct, to voluntary quit, to Referee
Hearings, to severance issues…
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