Last week I was fired from my dream job. They offered me a whopping 1 weeks worth of severance pay. I have been at the job for 9 months but I still think that 1 week of severance is more than a little low. In losing my job I am losing my cell phone, laptop, Internet, land line, and car. One week severance won’t even come close to covering the costs to buy even the must haves from that list. I did not sign off on the package and now I need to figure out how to ask for more. Does any random Doper have suggestions on how to do this?
Wow. That’s pretty harsh. Usually companies will give you two weeks if you’re at a year or under. Sorry for your troubles. I don’t know how I’d ask someone who just shit canned me to be nicer to me. They’re prolly not going to be too receptive, no matter how much sense it makes. I trust you’ve filed for unemployment. The sooner you do, the sooner the checks come. At least that’s something.
That is not how it works young grasshopper. You have no negotiating power at all especially after being on the job for just 9 months. They don’t have to give you anything at all. A severance package is usually given as a voluntary goodwill gesture and as an incentive to waive the motivation for any lawsuits.
I feel for you. I have been laid-off twice myself. However, I am not sure where you are getting the idea that you can ask for anything at all unless you have a strong wrongful termiantion claim. In that case, the only person you should deal with is your lawyer.
I’m confused as to why you think it should. It’s not like a divorce where rich ex has to keep you in the manner to which you have become accustomed or something.
I think Shagnasty is on the money (IANAL), I’ve been laid off a couple times and there was no question that you get what they give you, and they don’t even have to give you that.
My sympathies Barrels, hopefully the next opportunity will work out better.
Not quite sure how it works where you are, but in TN (which is a right-to-work state, BTW), if you receive any kind of severence, you do not qualify for unemployment. I know that RTW states tend to be quite shitty when it comes to stuff like unemployment, but I don’t know if this is something unique here.
As for the OP – if you never signed off on the package, they don’t owe you anything as far as severence goes. You only worked there for 9 months before being fired? I am thinking that you are lucky they gave you as much as they did. Not knowing the circumstances under which you were fired (and you said fired, not laid off, so I am assuming there is a much larger story here), I wouldn’t venture any other guesses.
I should have mentioned that my lawyer has reviewed the facts of my termination and does believe that there is enough evidence to pursue a wrongful termination suit against the company. I would rather not take it to court.
Most companies offer severance packages so that you will sign over your rights to sue the company. In offering me 1 week of severance my boss is insinuating that I’m enough of an idiot to sign away my legal rights for a pittance. When you Google severance package all kinds of tips for asking for a better package come up, I was asking for people with real life experience to chime in.
Barrels
If my company fires you, as opposed to ROF’ing you, you get nothing. At all. I’m surprised you were expecting anything at all, much less to have them consider any of your material needs. Sorry.
My experience is that you will pay your attorney a lot of money and wish you’d have taken the severance check.
(Not personal, but I’ve watched it happen - your company will likely settle, but your attorney is going to walk away with the majority of the money - and it will be a LONG time before you have anything in your pocket.)
Barrels, I’m not sure where you’re coming from on the cell phone, Internet, etc. Were those things not just company property for you to use in doing your work? Of course they need to be returned to the company! Unless you bought them with your own money with no reimbursement, expecting any compensation for those just makes you sound, well, ignorant of workplace norms, to be blunt.
If your termination really is wrongful in any legally meaningful way, have your attorney outline in a letter some basics of what that’s about, and what you think a reasonable severance would be. If it is wrongful in any race/gender/age/disability discriminatory way, you should be talking to the EEOC as well as your lawyer.
P.S. *Right-to-work state * has *nothing * to do with this situation. That has to do with requiring employees to join a union. This term is often confused with employment-at-will. Employment-at-will means they can fire you for any reason or no reason, except a discriminatory or illegal retaliatory reason. AFAIK employment-at-will is all states but Wyoming. Employment-at-will applies to employees who are not under a union or other contract for the terms of their employment.
Montana actually, as I found out during another at-will thread. Nonetheless, well said. Especially re: phone,internet,etc. I wouldn’t bring up the utilities with anyone, doesn’t sound very professional. Don’t talk about what you need, talk about what you deserve.
I work for a very small company, under 20 employees. In my profession a severance package is expected when a person is let go, for whatever reason. The only reason I brought up the phone/Internet/car situation is because when the company gave me those things with the understanding that personal use was allowed I did things like, let the my cell contract run out, sold my truck, gave my old computer to my grandmother. When I took this job it was for the long haul, I had plans on making this my career for life. Now I know several of you are going to say too bad, shouldn’t have done it, but I did.
If you were fired for cause, I wouldn’t ask for more. Go quietly, and your employer might give you a break when you apply for unemployment, or when they’re asked for a reference.
If you were part of a mass firing or layoff, where you didn’t do anything wrong, another week or two is reasonable, but not more than that.
Just MHO, IANAL.
Not on topic, but since it’s been mentioned – a friend was recently laid off when the business closed. She’d been there (in HR) for about three years and was given three months’ severance. She’s eligible for unemployment comp right away, because the severance is considered “pay to stay”. She agreed to stay until they didn’t need her any longer, rather than leave as soon as the closing was announced.
Yes, severance here in the event of a layoff is weird in that you have to work the days that count toward your severance. You get two weeks’ pay for every year of service so say you’ve been here ten years; 20 weeks before they really want you gone they will terminate you and then you work the 20 weeks until the last day. You don’t walk away with any lump sum.
That is, unless your boss decides that you staying will create too much trouble; in that case you can be released and stay home and get paid your regular check over those 20 weeks.
Huh? Haven’t you heard of planning for the future? (that includes the possibility of getting laid off) I’ve never even worked a job where there is a notion of “severance pay”, much less received any!