Severance Attorney vs Self-Negotiation: Which Option Maximizes Your Severance Package?

As if being terminated isn’t enough, employees also have to deal with severance negotiations to get the package they deserve. Negotiating a severance package after layoffs in your workplace is more nuanced than you might think. For one, there is no black and white answer to the question, “Should you negotiate yourself or hire a severance attorney?”.

Hiring a severance attorney does not guarantee that you can negotiate a better payout. Self-negotiations might also pose risks since most workers are not completely knowledgeable with employment law. So, what is the best option? We’ll weigh the comparisons below to help you make a decision.

What is a severance package?

Simply put, a severance package is the pay and other employee benefits that you’ll receive if you’ve been involuntarily terminated or laid off at work. This can be due to company transition, downsizing, or cost-reductions. 

In the US, severance pay is not legally required to be given, but many employers still offer them to their workers. However, if a severance package is indicated in your employment contract, you’re entitled to receive it as stated in your contract. Additionally, asking for a severance package if you’re not given one initially is not illegal. Severance pay is also considered taxable.

But what does a common severance package usually include? Here are a few usual components:

• Severance pay: This is paid as a lump sum and is usually calculated depending on your tenure. For instance, your severance pay is a month’s pay for every year you’ve worked in the company.
• Unused PTO/Vacation days: Employers could pay out unused vacation and sick days you haven’t used by the time you’ve been terminated or laid off. 
• Health insurance continuation: Your health benefits can be extended by your employer to help with your employment transition. The extension period varies depending on the company.

Can you negotiate a severance package yourself?

Simply put, yes. And in fact, there are a lot of employees who have negotiated a great severance package by themselves. However, keep in mind that there are situations when self-negotiation perfectly works.

Straightforward layoffs with no legal disputes and smaller severance packages are usually easy to negotiate with employers. If your employer is also cooperative and you have a good working relationship with them, you’ll find it easy to negotiate your severance package.

Practical severance negotiation tips to try

With severance packages, it’s important to take your time with it. Don’t sign an agreement immediately, especially if you haven’t read and understood the deal given to you by your employer. 

Here are a few self-negotiation tips to try:

• Request time to review: It’s not illegal to ask your HR for a few days or weeks to go over your severance package. The usual review period you can ask is 7-14 days.
• Stay professional and calm: Remember, your severance package without your signature is not a binding contract yet. Even if you think you’ve been treated unfairly, communicate with your HR as positively and professionally as possible. 
• Focus on business reasons: While you can base your negotiations on your work relationships, it’s more important to discuss your value and accomplishments in your role. 
• Prioritize requests strategically: Before your self-negotiation begins, lay out and plan your requests accordingly. You should know what your priorities are. For instance, you could focus first on your accrued PTO payout or your bonuses and commissions from your role.
• Negotiate more than salary alone: Your base payout is not the only one included in your severance package. Remember to also look into the other components, as we’ve discussed above.

What does a severance negotiation attorney actually do?

Now that we’ve discussed the basics of what you can do to negotiate your severance package on your own, let’s get into how legal counsel can help you get a better deal. A severance attorney does more than ask for more money for your severance agreement. 

Here are a few responsibilities of a severance attorney:

Agreement review

If negotiating a termination package on your own might be a bit of an issue, you can get the help of a severance attorney. First and foremost, they can help identify risky clauses or spot overly broad releases. Poorly drafted severance packages might ask you to give up employment rights without you knowing. 

Severance attorneys can also check confidentiality restrictions, non-compete concerns and even intellectual property clauses. 

Legal claim evaluation

Your severance attorney can check if you are a protected class and can file a legal claim against your employer. Here are a few examples:

• Discrimination
• Retaliation
• FMLA interference
• Unpaid compensation
• Whistleblower concerns
• Age discrimination

Severance attorneys specialize in employment laws so they would know what are the possible legal claims you can file. This goes beyond severance package negotiations, since there’s a chance you could also file a lawsuit against your employer.

Negotiation strategy

Since you already have a severance attorney to help with the negotiation, you don’t have to talk with HR or other legal departments yourself. Your severance lawyer is responsible for the communication and negotiating the terms of your agreement, including compensation and other necessary payouts and benefits.

Risk prevention

Finally, your severance attorney can help lessen the chances of accidental waiver of rights and prevent future disputes between you and your employer. These are important to note as well before you finally sign your severance package.

Severance attorney vs self-negotiation: Side-by-side comparison

Whether you’re negotiating your severance agreement by yourself or you’d want to get legal counsel, both of these options have upsides and downsides. Here’s a general overview:

Don’t underestimate self-negotiation strategies, just because legal counsel is possible. Remember, severance attorneys do not always increase your compensation or get a better severance agreement on your behalf. Your leverage matters more than the negotiation style you choose.

Signs when self-negotiation is the smarter option

There are many instances when self-negotiation works. If you’ve received modest severance offers or you’ve noticed no evidence of legal violations, there’s a good chance that you’ll be successful negotiating your own severance package. 

Self-negotiation is also effective if you’ve only been employed for a short period of time, or if your employer has standardized non-negotiable packages given to employees. 

With self-negotiations, you’re communicating directly with your HR and this might make some employees emotional. Always remember to keep a level head and try not to react driven by your personal feelings or biases. As much as possible, don’t overshare your frustrations or sign any agreement too quickly even if you’re feeling impatient or frustrated. 

When hiring a severance attorney can increase your leverage

If you have a possible legal claim against your employer, then it’s better if you seek out the help of a severance attorney instead of handling it by yourself. Legal leverage has other concerns or aspects that can only be pointed out by severance attorneys.

Here are a few possible legal claims that a severance attorney could easily notice and point out regarding your employment:

• Employee over 40, which could lead to a possible age discrimination case
• Retaliation concerns
• Selective layoffs
• Commissions or bonuses owed
• Equity/stock issues,
• Non-compete restrictions
• Medical leave disputes
• Whistleblower concerns
• Hostile termination circumstances

What you should know about severance attorney costs

While we can’t exactly tell you how much the fees and other costs might be, here are the common services offered by a severance attorney that could have different rates:

• Flat-fee reviews
• Hourly billing
• Limited-scope negotiation
• Full representation,
• Evaluating cost vs potential increase in package value

Legal review can still provide value even if compensation does not increase. With the help of your severance attorney,you could discover and even file a legal claim against your employer if you’ve been treated unfairly during your employment with the company.

Final thoughts: The best choice depends on your leverage

There’s no clear and better choice between self-negotiation and hiring a severance lawyer. We can only give you a balanced perspective so you know what to consider and how you can make an informed choice.

For some employees, self-negotiation is entirely reasonable. For others, especially where legal claims or complex agreements exist, a severance attorney will be of help.

At the end of the day, the most important step you could do is understand your basic employee rights, and know what your leverage is to get a better severance package.

In terms of severance attorney costs, varying services mean a range of fees as well. However, employment lawyers like Kira Fonteneau provide a free initial consultation to give you an overview of what your case looks like and the first steps to take. If you don’t know where to begin, listening to early advice from an employment lawyer can give you a much-needed headstart.