San Diego Severance Pay Attorneys

If you are leaving your company with a less than adequate severance package you need to consult a Gould Firm severance negotiation lawyer. We can offer a range of ideas or services to assist you in obtaining a better package. In some cases a meeting with an attorney is enough to advise you of your rights, helping you make decisions about how to deal with your employer. Other times, we can resort to employment mediation, arbitration, and negotiation to obtain a severance package that reflects your true value as an employee. By talking with a severance negotiation attorney you can find out what is normal and customary. You can discover if you should be seeking more money, or if all of your employer’s actions are legal. Working with a lawyer improves your chances of obtaining a more generous settlement.

Most executives and employees do not want to think about the issue of severance pay when they accept a new position, but it is a near certainty that one day they will leave their new employer. Experience tells us that a significant proportion of those who leave will be leaving on less than friendly terms. If you elected not to negotiate your severance package before you took your latest job, you may find yourself asking “Is my employer offering me a fair severance package?”

The Gould Firm can help you to assess your rights! Without an attorney, it will be difficult to fully grasp all of the grounds you may have to challenge your termination or the severance package you have been offered. With our experience, we will look to such things as your offer letter, welcome package, employee handbook, e-mail, and other documentation to determine the exact terms of employment as well as the rights of both parties. In assessing your rights we will determine whether you have written, verbal or other rights that have been expressly violated by the circumstances of your termination or the level of the company’s severance offer. We will evaluate whether other viable employment claims exist and may be settled in connection with a mutually agreeable severance package. We use this information, and our negotiating expertise, to seek the best possible terms for your severance package.

With regard to severance pay, you may think in terms of a certain number of weeks or months of base salary as a starting point. But we also evaluate such things as the length of the employee’s service to the company, the amount of time required to permit the employee to find an equivalent position without suffering economic hardship and other important factors. We take into consideration the extent to which bonuses or commissions constitute a significant part of one’s compensation in negotiating a severance package. We evaluate and negotiate for such things as stock options, accrued but unused vacation time, preexisting non-compete or non-solicitation agreements, pre-agreed employment references, possession of laptop or home office business equipment, timely reimbursement of business expenses, confidentiality provisions and the like.

If you are unsure about your right or whether your severance offer is reasonable, please contact the experienced severance negotiation lawyers at The Gould Firm today. We are here to help.