Severance Agreements

Premier Litigators has substantial expertise in handling severance and separation agreements, including drafting, negotiating, and successfully resolving disputes involving such agreements. Our experience ranges from routinely representing highly compensated individuals in negotiating severance agreements to drafting severance agreements for regional and national companies.

Examples of Severance Matters that We Regularly Handle

We have substantial experience in handling important severance matters. Examples of some of the more the severance matters we handle for clients include:

  • Negotiating severance pay on behalf of individuals and/or helping them understanding their options. Individuals are often asked by companies to sign a severance or separation agreement in connection with their work-relationship ending. The primary purpose of a severance agreement is generally to reduce exposure from a lawsuit from an individual after they stop working for the company. Whether or not the offered severance pay should be accepted depends on a number of factors, including: (i) whether an individual has valid legal claims and the monetary value of any such claims; and (ii) whether the severance agreement includes burdensome obligations, such as non-disparagement provisions or non-compete or non-solicit provisions.  Most individuals do not know if they have a legal claim in the first instance and do not fully appreciate certain obligations contained in severance agreements. We help individuals determine if the pros of signing a severance agreement outweighs the cons, in addition negotiating the terms and compensation within those agreements.
  • Drafting individualized severance agreements and ERISA-compliant severance plans. We assist corporate clients with both drafting and negotiating individualized severance agreements (i.e. on an ad hoc basis). Severance agreements are not always recommended. When drafted and implemented properly, they can mitigate exposure to liability and foster good will with prior employees and contract workers. Our experience also extends to preparing or revising ERISA employee benefits plans for severance, including Department of Labor (DOL) filings with the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) for such plans.
  • Litigating claims related to severance. We spend a large portion of our time talking clients out of lawsuits, as often the time and expense involved outweighs the potential benefits. We are, however, a litigation boutique. This means, when we recommend litigation, it is because we believe litigation is prudent and that we are likely to prevail on behalf of our clients. We have handled virtually every severance dispute imaginable.

For information on common severance-related questions, please see our Severance FAQs.

Other Practice Areas

Premier Litigators is litigation boutique with subject matter expertise in employment law. The Florida severance attorneys at our law firm handle all severance concerns and disputes, representing employers, employees, and contractors. Please visit the firm’s litigation practice areas for more details on the other type of disputes we handle and examples of past results.