Typically with a tech company where they are concerned about a person walking out with IP the company will instead put the employee on garden leave for the duration.
It would also be completely within the WARN act to say "you are going to be laid off on April 24th, however you are required to show up for the next 60 days and do knowledge transfer to the rest of the team." And then on April 24th, you sign that you acknowledge that you've been let go, you hand in your badge, get your final paycheck and payout of any accrued vacation and then walk out the door and that's it - no other payments.
Employers have never been required to offer severance.
> There is no legal requirement under California law that employers provide severance pay to an employee upon termination of employment.
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Typically, the stuff you sign when you leave is a payment contingent upon a promise not to cause future problems for the company. Don't disparage them, don't threaten to sue them for certain things relating to being discharged from the company.
If you don't sign it - you don't get the severance pay.
Correct, the max penalty under WARN act is 60 days pay. I fell into the first bucket you mentioned. I was on the payroll for 60 days, but had all access to systems disabled and was expected to do no work, though the company reserved the right to call on me should the need arise.
I am curious to see how this works, since my severance was accelerated stock vesting, and was given in return for agreeing to the non-disclosure and non-disparagement clauses. If those aren't available any more, I wonder if companies will be less inclined to offer severance since they get less in return.
Acceleration of vesting is also potentially a legal protection against litigation claiming an employee was terminated to prevent vesting. It's often easier to just let someone vest than to prove you are not trying to get out of the grant.
I'm sure. I also missed out on the second half of my joining bonus that would have actually been worth more due to the absolute cratering of the company stock price.
Typically with a tech company where they are concerned about a person walking out with IP the company will instead put the employee on garden leave for the duration.
It would also be completely within the WARN act to say "you are going to be laid off on April 24th, however you are required to show up for the next 60 days and do knowledge transfer to the rest of the team." And then on April 24th, you sign that you acknowledge that you've been let go, you hand in your badge, get your final paycheck and payout of any accrued vacation and then walk out the door and that's it - no other payments.
Employers have never been required to offer severance.
For example - the document on final pay for California. https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/finalpay.pdf
> There is no legal requirement under California law that employers provide severance pay to an employee upon termination of employment.
---
Typically, the stuff you sign when you leave is a payment contingent upon a promise not to cause future problems for the company. Don't disparage them, don't threaten to sue them for certain things relating to being discharged from the company.
If you don't sign it - you don't get the severance pay.