Severances and Negotiated Exits
Deadline this week? Call now — (415) 839-8102. You almost certainly have more time than the letter says, and a short call will tell you exactly how much.
There's a severance and a deadline in front of you. Or there's nothing on the table at all -- no offer, no deadline, just a job that's turned. Either way, there's more room here than the paperwork suggests. An offer already sitting there is an opening bid, not a verdict, and an exit no one has offered yet can often be negotiated into existence. Both come down to the same thing: how credibly you could walk away and sue instead. The threat of litigation is what moves the number. Building that threat and playing it well is most of what I do.
There's a severance in front of you — and a deadline. A dense document, a tight clock, and a number that sounds generous until you see what you're giving up to earn it. Two questions decide it: should you sign — and is this really the best they can do?
There's no offer at all — but you want out. The job has turned, or it's clearly ending. There's no number in front of you, no paper, no deadline — and the alternative to waiting to be pushed is a clean, paid exit: negotiated, not offered. Nobody advertises that this is something you can ask for — it is, and an exit can be built from nothing, when there's leverage to build it on.
Two starting points, two different first moves — but the same question underneath: how much is your leaving quietly worth to your employer?
Here is the standoff behind a lot of these. An employee who wants out — but who has read the standard advice: don't quit, don't just walk away and sue, don't hand them the win. So they stay, and wait. A company that would be glad to see them go — but doesn't dare fire them, because the claims are visible from their side too, and a firing could hand over a lawsuit. Both sides want the very same outcome. Neither will make the first move.
That stalemate is where a negotiator earns his keep. Most negotiated exits aren't a brawl; they close a gap both sides were quietly hoping someone else would close. My job is to give everyone what they already want -- a clean, paid exit for you, without you ever making the move you've rightly been told not to make.
Some people read a severance as a thank-you for their years of service. It isn't. Strip away the friendly language and it's a trade: they pay you, and you sign away your right to come after them -- usually every claim you have, known or unknown, forever. The release is the real product; the money is just the price of your signature. That's the good news, because a price can be negotiated, and what it should be depends entirely on what the claims you're releasing are worth. The deadline and the warm tone are mostly there so you don't stop to work that out.
Your leverage doesn't come from your years there, or from how unfair the firing was. It comes from one thing: the strength of what you could file if you walked. An employer weighs a severance against the cost and risk of being sued, and the hooks and angles in your story are what they're pricing. The more real and ready that threat is, the more the offer moves. So I don't ask nicely. I build the case behind the ask quietly, so every request is backed by a complaint that's ready to file the moment they'd rather fight than resolve.
But a strong hand doesn't play itself. Negotiation is its own craft -- timing, patience, listening for what the other side actually needs, knowing when to press and when to go quiet. I treat it that way. I study it the way other lawyers study case law, deliberately and daily, from the people who do it best.
Start with the pay itself, because that's usually where the most value sits. A first offer — when there is one — is rarely the ceiling. With real leverage behind you it can move a lot, often well past what the opening figure made you think was possible. When there's no offer on the table yet, the pay is the very thing we'd be negotiating into existence. Either way, it's worth a conversation before you sign — or before you walk.
But a good exit is built from more than the check. How much you release, and how narrowly. How your departure is described, and what a future employer hears when they call. Non-disparagement that runs both ways, not just at you. A few more months of health coverage. Unvested equity, and timing. All of it is negotiable, and all of it is easy to sign away without noticing it was there. (In California you also keep the right to speak about anything unlawful that happened, whatever the draft says.)
There is a subtler lever most offers quietly ignore: how the money is labeled. A standard severance is paid like a paycheck — it's wages, so income-tax withholding and payroll taxes come out before it ever reaches you. But not every dollar has to be structured that way. Part of it can often be negotiated as emotional-distress damages — in most employment cases, the big-ticket item — payment for what this actually did to you. That money isn't wages, so payroll taxes and wage withholding don't come out of it — which can leave meaningfully more in your hands. (It's still income; the exact treatment is a question for a tax adviser.) That lever is there whether we're pushing an offer upward or building an exit from nothing.
If there's an offer in front of you: don't sign yet. You almost always have more time than the deadline implies. California gives you time to review, and the right to have a lawyer look first. If you're over forty, you may have weeks — plus a window to change your mind after signing. Some rights can't be signed away at all. And a confidentiality or non-disparagement clause that tries to stop you from discussing harassment or discrimination may be flatly unenforceable in California. Slowing the whole thing down is usually where the gains are. The deadline is pressure — it is not the law.
If there's no offer yet: there's nothing to sign and no clock ticking. That's its own kind of freedom. The work here is quieter — build the leverage first, then open the conversation on your timing, not theirs. Don't quit, don't tip your hand, and don't assume you have to wait to be handed something. Come talk before you make a move, and we'll sort out whether there's a package worth going after.
Whether there's an offer sitting in your inbox or you're quietly planning your way out, don't sign -- and don't quit -- before you understand what's in your hand. Tell me what's happening and what they've put on the table. I'll give you an honest read on what it's worth and what's realistic to push for. And I'll be honest about the odds: it's not unusual to try the negotiated route and have no deal come of it. When that happens, nothing is wasted -- the case we built for the negotiation is the same case we'd file.
Offer in hand or planning ahead, a few simple things protect your position:
The fine print and the strategy are my job. Bring me the document and the story, and I'll tell you exactly where you stand.
Know your rights
Almost always, you have more time than it suggests. California gives you time to review and the right to consult a lawyer. Workers over forty typically get several weeks, plus a window to change their mind after signing. Telling them you're reviewing it is expected, not confrontational.
You can almost always negotiate — and more people succeed than realize it. How far the offer moves depends on the strength of the claims you'd be giving up. That's exactly what I'll size up before you engage with them.
California requires no severance at all, so there's no set figure. It's a negotiation tied to your situation and their exposure. I won't pretend a number over the phone, but I'll give you a grounded, honest read on what's realistic to push for.
Non-disparagement clauses are common. But in California, one cannot stop you from disclosing unlawful conduct like harassment or discrimination. A clause that tries — or that leaves out the language the law now requires — may be unenforceable. It's often negotiable in other ways too.
Often, yes. If there's leverage — real claims, real exposure — an exit package can be negotiated even when nothing is on the table to start. Sometimes the strongest position is the one you build before anyone's offered you a thing.
Before you sign, quit, or accept less than your leaving is worth, let's talk. The first conversation is free and confidential. There's no cost unless we win.