When it comes to severance agreements a company would want your signature agreement on the separation, even in the case of at will contracts to limit the legal issues you can take. I believe most severance packages a company would offer would be standard for the amount of years that you worked there, but you may be able to negotiate a better agreement depending on your work history, the reasons - if any that you're being dismissed, but there are likely certain legal limitations that may require the company to leave certain items off the table.

Fortunately, I have not yet been laid off and gone through this. However, I have gotten a release letter from when I wanted to leave my consulting firm. They tried to take advantage of the fact that if I quit within a certain amount of time, I'd have to pay back my signing bonus. Projects the consulting firm was trying to get me on were significantly different than what was in my contract. So, after some time I asked to be released from the company because the type of projects I was getting were significantly different than what was outlined in my contract. At the end, I was released and got to keep my bonus.

I've seen other instances of mass lay-offs where the company would pay about 1 weeks worth of salary for every year they worked at the company as severance.

I have been worked at the company in my country that had a financial crisis, so I did not get paid for more than three months. Therefore, I sued the company for unpaid months. In the court sentence, the court terminated my contract with the company (I'm free to work anywhere), and it's been said the company must pay all late payments. Also, I should received the rest of the contract period salary from the company without doing anything.

Personally, I have never been offered such an agreement, but I do know of them. In most basic terms, these agreements are to fire employees without any legal issues. Most companies have huge legal departments who professionalize in these contracts to keep the companies losses to a minimum, whatever the employee is getting fired. Furthermore, many employees have no idea how to deal with these situations; thus, they usually get played fairly easily. The laws deal with these issues are constantly getting updated. Thus, not only the legal departments but also all of the employees must educate themselves on the basic understanding f these laws and keep themselves updated. They're also a small percentage of employees who have excellent knowledge of these laws and do not hesitate to use them to their favor when and if it suits them out of a problematic situation for themselves. Personally, I don't see any benefit of this. Still, maybe it is because of my morals and ethics...

Although I agree with some of the point mentioned by you guys, but is there more information regarding the job firing? Is it due to poor performance, disciplinary action or simply because they wanted too? I dot think this is correct, but there at least they are offering a severance package or some sort of monetary deal to get you started. I have an additional question; is there a specific time frame when hired that they can not fire you? I figure if you get a new job, you dint get paid for two weeks, and then until you find another job and get paid, it can be difficult to make ends meet. 

Although I agree with some of the point mentioned by you guys, but is there more information regarding the job firing? Is it due to poor performance, disciplinary action or simply because they wanted too? I dot think this is correct, but there at least they are offering a severance package or some sort of monetary deal to get you started. I have an additional question; is there a specific time frame when hired that they can not fire you? I figure if you get a new job, you dint get paid for two weeks, and then until you find another job and get paid, it can be difficult to make ends meet. 

I just had a friend who was laid off from my company due to cut backs in the remediation budget. Now that our remediation project has come to a close, those who were hired as a part of that budget are being laid off and considered part of budget cuts. Even though this is the case, he was given a severance packaged based off of the amount of time he worked at the company and his position level. He was also entitled to compensation for any PTO time that he had left over from this year. When I discussed the situation with him, he told me he was informed that the amount was standard based on certain criteria and would not be increased. I think one of the only ways you would have bargaining power for a severance package is if the employer thought there is a good chance you would sue the company and had a real chance of winning. Please comment to let me know if I am wrong about this or if this is indeed the case.

A severance agreement is a contract that an employer may ask an employee to sign when they are terminated from a job. It is often offered in exchange for an employee's release of their claims against the employer. A release agreement is a written agreement where one party releases the other party from potential liability, usually in exchange for a payment of money or some other form of consideration.

My dad had gone through this issue during the 2008 financial crisis, so I am familiar with this experience. In his case, him and his coworkers had exceptional leverage with his company to negotiate the severance package which includes pay, insurance coverages, and other benefits that he would miss not working for the company. This was a very tedious and moderated process with lawyers and other legal departments present to ensure that there was no exploitations or loopholes for either side to use. And yes, like the written above by the previous editors, it did require the signed consent of both parties to confirm the end of employment and the acceptance of severance package terms.